Writer-bookseller wins 35th Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition

The Center for Art, New Ventures, and Sustainable Development is pleased to announce the results of its 35th Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition. Katrina Macapagal shall be receiving the cash prize of forty-five thousand pesos for her story The Hymn of Leaves. A total of 239 entries, all based on the artwork by Chad Montero, were received for this competition.

Katrina Macapagal is a writer and communications professional who lives in Edinburgh with her husband and daughter. She has a PhD in film and media studies and is the author of Slum Imaginaries and Spatial Justice in Philippine Cinema released by the Edinburgh University Press in 2021. She writes poetry, prose, and creative non-fiction. She also runs an online bookshop at talasbooks.co.uk, offering a selection of Philippine children’s books in the United Kingdom.

CANVAS holds the Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition at least twice a year, open to Filipinos worldwide. The first and only of its kind, it invites writers to pen a children’s story inspired by a painting or sculpture by CANVAS’ chosen local Filipino artist.

That same artist will then bring the winning story to life through a series of around 20 new artworks. These are finally showcased in a major solo exhibition and used as illustrations for the ultimate offspring of this unique collaboration: a full-color children’s book which could reach public schools and communities in the Philippines under CANVAS’ One Million Books for One Million Filipino Children