AN ALUMNUS of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters emerged as the best flash fiction writer in the 2023 Gawad Sentro ng Wikang Filipino (SWF).
Alpine Christopher Moldez of the old communication arts program received the Pinakamahusay na Akda sa Agos Journal award for dagli (best work in Agos Journal for flash fiction) last Wednesday, Aug. 30.
Moldez’s work was published in the second issue of Agos Journal, SWF’s collection of creative works that have been peer-reviewed.
“Adobo” by Moldez centered on the recovery journey of an eatery owner who lost her sense of taste due to COVID-19. He said the story was inspired by the feeling of isolation and stigma from his own experience of the disease.
“I wrote it in 2020—when the world [didn’t] understand COVID-19 as much as we do now, and a vaccine [didn’t] exist yet. Back then, it was a story set in an imagined post-pandemic world,” Moldez, who completed his communication degree in 2015, told The Flame.
Other writers recognized in this year’s Gawad SWF included UST Department of Literature professors Chuckberry Pascual and Paul Castillo.
Pascual’s work, “Ang Pagsasalin sa Ilustrado: Isang Awtokritisismo” was selected as a finalist for the Pinakamahusay na Saliksik sa Daluyan Journal (best research in Daluyan Journal).
“Tungkung Langit” and “Ulysses” by Castillo were finalists of the Gawad SWF for Pinakamahusay na Akda sa Agos Journal under the poetry category.
The Gawad SWF, which is under the University of the Philippines Diliman, was held as part of the institution’s celebration of national language month. The award seeks to promote works written in Filipino. F – Aljon Danniell Eguia
