14/07/2026
CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE F. SIONIL JOSE YOUNG WRITERS AWARDS 2026!
The Jose Family, in partnership with De La Salle University and PEN Philippines, is now accepting entries for the 2026 F. Sionil Jose Young Writers Award, given to the best short stories in English and Filipino.
The F. Sionil Jose Young Writers Award was established by the children of F. Sionil Jose to honor his legacy to aspiring Filipino writers. The contest seeks to advance excellence, integrity, social justice, and nationalism in literature. The contest also honors the memory of his wife, Teresita Jovellanos Jose, who was his foundation.
Requirements:
- One short story written in English or Filipino; can be unpublished or published in January 2026 or later.
- The stories must cover a maximum of 20 pages, double-spaced, 12-point typeface, and the pages must be numbered.
- Submissions must include a Cover Page, which has the complete name of the writer, their date of birth, address, email address, phone number, title and the language of the short story, and the author’s brief biography (200 words maximum). If the short story has been published, the publication source and date should be indicated.
Deadline of submission will be on August 15, 2026 at 11:59 p.m., Manila time.
Submissions must be sent in the form of a separate cover page and the short story, both in PDF form to [email protected].
Prizes for each category:
First prize - Php 25,000
Second prize - Php 15,000
Third prize - Php 10,000
This contest does not allow the use of built-in or external AI tools for ideation, outlining, drafting, writing, or editing.
To protect the integrity of the competition, the organizers reserve the right to request drafts, revision histories, research notes, or other evidence of authorship. Entries for which satisfactory evidence of predominantly human authorship cannot be provided including those suspected of undisclosed generative AI authorship, may be disqualified.
The awarding ceremony will be held in October at the De La Salle University.
The F. Sionil Jose Young Writers Award is funded by Jose’s children. It is managed and facilitated by PEN Philippines and hosted by De La Salle University.
