Reposted from The Philippine Daily Inquirer, from an article written by Neni Sta. Romana Cruz

Buwan ng Wika highlights the beauty and the propagation of Filipino, our national language; it also draws our attention to the rich diversity of our over a hundred Philippine languages. Yet, for such an amazingly language-rich country, much still remains to be discovered in local literature, because most of our critically acclaimed novels are written in English or Filipino. This present state of literary affairs is a gross misrepresentation of our linguistic and cultural background.

The Valledor Prize, a collaboration between Ateneo de Naga University (ADNU) represented by president Fr. Roberto Rivera, SJ, and the National Book Development Board, is the first competition of its kind, especially since it is open to any and all Bikol languages as mapped and classified by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. Kristian Cordero, deputy director of the ADN University Press, has always dreamt of a competition such as this for Bikol, because national writing competitions do not carry a regular and permanent Bikol category.

The entire article can be found here: http://opinion.inquirer.net/115608/premyo-valledor-best-bikol-novel