By Jenny Ortuoste
The Food Writers Association of the Philippines (FWAP) will hold the ceremony for this year’s Doreen Gamboa Fernandez (DGF) Food Writing Awards online, as part of Filipino Food Month (FFM) activities this April.
The DGF Awards, founded 17 years ago, is “the pioneering food writing competition in the country,” the organization said. “Contestants and winners are making it premier with their original research and proficient prose.”
This year’s event recognizes the winning food essays of 2019 and 2020 that chronicle Philippine culinary traditions.
The awarding ceremony for 2019, which was supposed to have been held in February 2020, was postponed because of the Taal eruption and moved to April, only to be cancelled altogether because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Filipino Food Month or “Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino” is held every April, in line with Presidential Proclamation No. 469 of April 13, 2018.
The event, spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Philippine Culinary Heritage Movement seeks to “promote, preserve, and ensure the transmission of vast Filipino culinary traditions to the present and future generations, as well as to provide support to farmers, fisher folks, and to the rest of the agricultural and aquacultural communities,” according to the FFM.
In a recent column, food journalist Micky Fenix wrote that FFM is “a full month highlighting Filipino food. Food, after all, is part of a country’s culture. And it isn’t only through the cooked dish that we spread our culture, but also through the ingredients grown and used, palate preferences, and methods of preparation and cooking — both traditional and updated.”
The event will be streamed live on the FFM official Facebook page (facebook.com/FilipinoFoodMonthOfficial) on April 17 at 5:00 p.m.
The judges
According to multi-awarded writer and columnist Krip Yuson, who has served as a judge for several years in a row, he and the other judges were asked to read brief excerpts from the winning works for the ceremony.
The other judges for both 2019 and 2020 are multi-awarded author, food
historian, and cultural worker Felice Sta. Maria (also a FWAP director), home cook and asset management group president Mol Fernando, writer-editor Nana Ozaeta, and writer and chef Datu Shariff Pendatun III.
Yuson also said that among the winners attending the virtual awarding ceremony from the safety of their homes are one based in Sevilla, Spain, and two in California.
The winners
The 2019 contest theme was “Fish.’ The winners are:
- Jennifer Fergesen: first prize for “Migratory Species — The Filipina Fish Processors of the Faroe Islands” and third prize for “Dalagang Bukid: The Mountain Maiden of the Seas”
- Marie Joy Rosal Sumagaysay”: second prize for “Sirup and the Sea Breeze”
This was the first time that any writer won two major awards in the same year. Fergesen, a Filipino-American journalist with an MA Creative Writing degree from the University of California-Davis, received a grant from her university to visit the Faroe Islands in Denmark, where she observed firsthand the events she recounts in her first-place-winning piece.
The three honorable mention winners are Edelwisa Gonzaga’s “The Ichtus in Talibubu,” Rosy Mina’s “What’s in a name? When Philippine fishes go by reduplications,” and Samuel Evardone’s “Sarciadong Aquarium.”
The 2020 contest theme was “Livestock”. The winners are:
- Kaye Leah Cacho-Sitchon: first prize for “Sinanglaw for Breakfast”
- Jeanne Rebollido Jacob-Ashkenazi: second prize for “Bile: More Than Just an Unlikely Condiment” and third prize for “Welcoming the Goat to our Tables”
The honorable mention winners are: Wilson Lee Flores for “A Literature Teacher’s ‘Magical’ Kitchenette and her Unforgettable Pata Tim Adobo;” Rosy Mina for “Are You What You Eat? Raw Definitions, Refined Tastes,” and Shulamite Maiden Pormentira for “The Bitter, The Better.”
