Photo credits (SunStar)
Professor Januar E. Yap, Assistant Professor from the College of Communication, Art, and Design nabs his fourth palanca award in the Cebuano Short Story category of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, which is considered the country’s premier literary battleground for veterans and rookie wordsmiths.
In 2000, he received his first palanca with his magic realism-influenced “Ang Suhito” placing 2nd. It had reflects Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight Children.”
His second palanca award came 15 years later with his “Liboa’g Usa Ka Hugon-Hugon Kabahin sa Tagulilong” winning the third prize.
With his first and second palanca only garnering ribbons, in 2018 he proved that he was no neophyte as Professor Yap nabbed the first prize, the Palanca Medal, for his third palanca with his story “Baradero” (“Drydock”).
Now with his fourth palanca award, Professor Yap is a force to be reckoned with.