Filipino Librarian: April 2008

It feels good that I'm not "Too Busy to Blog" anymore, but I do have one more deadline to meet. So instead of replying to this blog's first troll, who appeared on the same day I started posting again, I decided that I would just let my readers judge his far-out opinions for themselves. It is ironic, though, that this American expat actually left his comments on "What Do Foreigners See That We Don't?" It just goes to show that not all foreigners staying in the Philippines see our country the same way.

I will address the issue that got him started in another post, but here are his comments, with the one comment I bothered to make in bold:

[In case you miss it, here's his most hilarious comment: "you got students with 4 year bachelor degrees... that can't even spell!" The pot called the kettle black.]

What??? You said Americans invaded Philippines? What history book did you read that in? Who told you such nonsense? In the 1940's Americans came here to SAVE your country and your people from Japanese invasion. We lost thousands of Americans to save your land and your people (many of our kids have no father, no brother, no uncle, no grandfater... and imagine how they feel when they read your comments about Americans "invading" Philips). It wasn't the first time Americans came here to save your people and your country and it may not be the last time, so do not ever insult the Americans.

The deadline for submission of nominations for the 2008 National Book Awards is 30 April 2008. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, this information has not been widely disseminated. I am, therefore, reproducing the guidelines from the Manila Critics Circle (MCC) and the National Book Development Board (NBDB) below.

This is the first time that MCC and NBDB are teaming up, and there are a few things that must be noted:

1. Nominations must be submitted to the Accreditation and Incentives Division of the NBDB.
2. Only books published by NBDB-registered publishers or have ISBNs may be nominated.
3. Only those books with ISBNs may qualify for a National Book Award.

Based on my limited understanding of the guidelines, it seems that a book without an ISBN may be nominated as long as its publisher is registered with NBDB, but it will not be eligible for an award. It seems, therefore, that if you're planning to nominate a book, you better make sure it has an ISBN, otherwise, it will be a wasted effort even if its publisher is registered with the NBDB.

By the way, it seems strange that there is nothing in the guidelines that indicates that the book should have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2007. But I suppose that's what those who drafted the document meant.

National Book Awards

I. General rules

A. The Board of Judges

1. Every year, the Board of Judges (BOJ) of the National Book Awards shall be composed of:
a. Five (5) members of the Manila Critics Circle (MCC) to be designated by MCC; and
b. One (1) judge nominated by the National Book Development Board (NBDB).
2. There will be two divisions: literary and non-literary.

3. There shall be the same members of the BOJ from the MCC for both the literary and non-literary divisions. The NBDB, however, reserves the right to nominate a different judge for each category within any division, depending on the expertise of the chosen judge.

4. Books of members of the MCC are disqualified from winning any award for any category in any division. Likewise, the books of the NBDB-nominated judge shall be disqualified for the category s/he is judging.

5. Each member of the BOJ is entitled to one (1) vote. A vote must be explained verbally during the voting process, taking into consideration factors that determine the quality of the title.

6. A title in all categories of both divisions must be voted upon unanimously by every member of the BOJ to win.

7. Meetings of the BOJ shall be held at the NBDB Conference Room or at any designated place agreed upon beforehand by the members of the BOJ.

8. Minutes of every meeting by the BOJ shall be taken by a member of the NBDB Secretariat, who shall keep the minutes in a confidential file within the premises of the NBDB.

9. The BOJ shall make a list of finalists numbering five (5) titles at most per category, from which the winners of each category are determined. A winner for each category must be determined by September 30, 2008.

B. Submissions

1. A letter nominating the titles, accompanied by an initial two (2) copies of the books, must be submitted to the Accreditation and Incentives Division (AID) of the NBDB at the
2/F National Printing Office Building,
EDSA corner NIA Northside Road,
Diliman, Quezon City 1100
2. Only publishers registered with the NBDB will be allowed to nominate their titles. If the titles are nominated by a literary organization, a university department, or a professional organization, such titles must be published by an NBDB-registered publisher. Only those entities whose main activity is not publishing but publish books from time to time as an auxiliary activity to their main business or activity are exempt from registration requirement; provided, however, their published titles have an ISBN.

3. Nominations without the accompanying initial 2 books will not be considered at all.

4. Only those books with ISBNs may qualify for a National Book Award.

5. The deadline for the submission of all nominations is at noon of April 30, 2008.

6. All books submitted to the NBDB for consideration in the National Book Awards become the property of the NBDB.

C. Announcement of finalists and winners

1. Winners shall be announced only during the awarding ceremonies.

2. All decisions of the BOJ are final.

3. Finalists in all categories will be invited to the awarding ceremonies to be scheduled on a date within Philippine Book Development Month, and at a place to be determined by the NBDB.

II. Literary Titles

A. Nomination and Judging

1. Any publisher registered with the National Book Development Board (NBDB) may nominate a literary title, published in the previous year, by sending a letter of nomination and by submitting an initial two (2) copies of that title for consideration of the judges in the following categories, in English, Filipino, or any other language:
a. Novel;
b. Poetry;
c. Essay;
d. Creative Non-Fiction;
e. Literary Criticism;
f. Short Fiction;
g. Drama;
h. Graphic Novel;
i. Children’s Fiction;
j. Children’s Poetry;
k. Other genres as may be determined by the Board of Judges (BOJ).
2. The NBDB will forward these nominations to a chosen literary organization registered with the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) for prescreening. Nominated titles for different categories may not necessarily be given to one literary organization. The NBDB reserves the right to choose the literary organizations for each category, subject to the approval of the Chair of the NBDB Governing Board. The literary organizations will be given thirty (30) days from receipt of the nominated titles to come up with a short list.

3. Literary organizations registered with the NCCA may nominate titles to the NBDB, which shall not go through a prescreening process as long as the nomination is signed by the head of the organization.

4. The members of the MCC also reserve the right to nominate titles for the consideration of the BOJ, provided none of the titles nominated by them, or by any publisher, or literary organization, are authored by any member of the MCC. Consequently, any title authored by any member of the MCC is automatically disqualified from winning.

5. Publishers of titles submitted for prescreening and short-listed by these literary organizations, or nominated by the MCC or by a NCCA- registered literary organization, shall be informed in writing that their titles have been short-listed, and shall be required to submit an additional six (6) copies of the books to the NBDB. Non-submission of the required copies will disqualify the title from consideration by the BOJ.

6. The chosen NCCA-registered literary organization shall submit to the NBDB a short list of the nominated titles, judging only the literary merits of the books without going into other aspects of the books, and without ranking them.

7. The literary organizations will be given thirty (30) days from receipt of the books to submit a short list of the titles to the NBDB. Should there be no short list given by the literary organization within the given period, all nominated books will be forwarded to the BOJ, unless otherwise disqualified.

8. The NBDB shall inform the BOJ no later than June 30, 2008, that the books to be the subject of final judging are ready for pick up at the NBDB office.

III. Non-literary Titles

A. Nomination and Judging

1. Any NBDB-registered publisher, professional organization, or university department may nominate a title published in the previous year, by submitting a letter of nomination. Publishers who nominate their titles must also submit two (2) initial copies of that title for consideration of the judges in the following categories:
a. Sciences;
b. Social Sciences;
c. Humanities;
d. Professions;
e. Reference;
f. Other categories as may be determined by the BOJ.
2. Non-literary titles nominated directly by an NBDB-registered publisher shall be submitted by the NBDB to a professional organization or a university department in the field the nominated title belongs to. Such professional organization or university department shall be approved by the Chair of the NBDB’s Governing Board.

3. The professional organization or university department shall short list the titles bearing in mind the following:
a. This prescreening is limited only to judging the soundness of the contents of the book;
b. They are given thirty (30) days to evaluate the book from the time of receipt of the books;
c. Upon passing the prescreening process, the title shall be passed on to the BOJ, for regular judging.
4. A title that has been rejected by the prescreening professional organization or university department shall no longer be submitted to the BOJ for judging. However, the BOJ will be notified in writing by the NBDB Secretariat that such a title was prescreened by a particular organization or university department, and did not pass the pre- screening process.

5. If a short-listed title was nominated by an NBDB-registered publisher, the NBDB shall inform such publisher accordingly, and shall be required to submit an additional six (6) copies to the NBDB for submission to the BOJ.

6. If a title was nominated by a professional organization or university department, the title shall no longer go through a prescreening process. However, the publisher of such title will be informed that its title has been nominated by a professional organization or university department, without naming the organization or department, and such publisher shall be required to submit seven (7) copies of that title for the BOJ: six (6) for the BOJ, and one extra copy for the NBDB library.

7. Professional organizations that submit titles for consideration must also submit a copy of their SEC registration to the NBDB.

8. Submissions by university departments must contain the signature of the head of the department, or an authorized department representative as designated by the dean of the college or the university president.

9. Only titles prescreened by a chosen professional organization or university department, when nominated by a publisher, or directly nominated by a professional organization or a university department may be considered by the BOJ.