2020 Call for Entries : the PBBY Chapter Book Prize

The Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) is now accepting entries for the 2020 PBBY-Salanga Chapter Book Prize. The winner shall be given a cash prize of P25,000.00, a gold medal, and an opportunity to be published. Prizes will be awarded in an appropriate ceremony to be held during the celebration of National Children’s Book Day on July 21, 2020.

DEADLINE: Entries must be received by the PBBY Secretariat and time-stamped no later than 5:00 p.m. on November 8, 2019.

The contest rules are as follows:

1. Open to all Filipino citizens, as well as non-Filipino residents with dual citizenship, except those who are related to any PBBY member up to the third degree of consanguinity. For foreigners, they must have spent at least six months (can be accumulated) in the Philippines for the past six (6) years.

2. Stories should be intended for children aged 8–12, with not less than 15,000 words and not more than 30,000 words.

3. Entries may be in English or Filipino.

4. Plot may be anything that relates to a Filipino child’s experience.

5. Entries must be in hard copy, 1.5 space, Times New Roman 12 with 1-inch margins on short bond paper. 

6. On a separate sheet, contestant must identify the target grade level, number of words, and the synopsis of the story.  Contestant may also include suggestions to teachers for enrichment activities.

7. A contestant may send in more than one (1) entry.

8. Each entry must be signed by a pen name only. Five (5) copies of each entry should be placed in an envelope, on the face of which only the pen name of the contestant should appear.

9. Together with each entry, contestants must submit a second envelope, on the face of which the pen name shall appear. This must contain the contestant’s full name, address, contact numbers, a short literary background, and a notarized certification from the author, vouching for the originality of the entry and for the freedom of the organizers from any liability arising from the infringement of copyright in case of publication, and affirming that the entry or any variant thereof has (a) never been published nor (b) won any other contest i.e. that it has never won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, honorable mention in any other contest or otherwise been awarded a medal, a citation, or included in a publicized list of meritorious entries to a literary contest.

10. All entries must be sent through snail mail or personally dropped off at the PBBY Secretariat, c/o Adarna House, Inc., Scout Torillo cor. Scout Fernandez Sts., Barangay Sacred Heart, Quezon City.

11. All entries must be received by the PBBY Secretariat no later than 5:00 p.m., November 8, 2019.

12. Winners will be announced no later than November 29, 2019. Non-winning entries will be disposed of by the PBBY Secretariat.

Grand prize and honorable mention winners shall be subject to a bidding process to be facilitated by PBBY, to determine which publisher/s will publish their winning stories.

The winning story will be the basis for the 2020 PBBY-Alcala Prize.

For more details, interested parties may contact the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, at (02) 8352 6765 local 203 or email pbby@adarna.com.ph.