COLLABORATING CLOSELY, THE Social Sciences and Humanities Association (SSHA) and The Spires, the official literary publication of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), organized a poem writing competition ahead of the celebration of World Poetry Day 2024, with the theme, “Standing on the shoulders of Giants,” at the St. Anselm’s Hall, last March 9. 

World Poetry Day, annually celebrated every March 21 to pay tribute to poets and the art of poetry as well as its spoken forms, was first adopted in 1999 in Paris during the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 30th General Conference. In that respect, SSHA and The Spires organized their program to showcase the interests of students for literature, society, and the social sciences. 

Event organizer and auditor of SSHA, Ramon Gabriel Ledesma, revealed that the yearly event began during the pandemic, with his organization and The Spires already working together in its releases. As such, this celebratory competition was the “first World Poetry Day that was held face-to-face.” 

As stated, while World Poetry Day is supposedly celebrated every March 21, this event transpired last March 9. Considering this, Ledesma disclosed that “we were supposed to do it on the 21st [of March] kaso there was, I think, it’s near the activity ban,” also inserting that the Dean’s Listing Awarding intercepted the prospects of launching the event on the 6th that same month.” 

However, despite the setback and their struggle to align the competition with World Poetry Day, Ledesma looks forward to SSHA’s next event “Obra Likha Sining” that will be released in the following month focusing on art, Philippine literature, and social sciences.  

Moving on to the event itself, it started with a prayer before the announcement of guidelines and instructions given by Ledesma, himself. As instructed, participants were to write a poem within an hour, circling any topic of choice and were later to be judged based on cohesiveness, creativeness utilizing poetic elements, and relevance to the program’s theme.  

After which, participants submitted their pieces to be perused by judges coming from both the organizations, along with their special guest and judge, Prof. Susan R. Butac, PhD.  

Upon deliberation, it was Arabelle Lamor, The Spires’ auditor, who won first place, garnering Php1000 cash prize. Coming in second was Jan Gilan Canzana who was awarded Php500. And finally, the third place was secured by Juan Miguel Fegalan who got Php300 as prize. 

Amid the lacking number of participants, Ledesma expressed how he was “really proud of how it went,” recounting how the contestants “were really passionate about writing, about wanting to write, or wanting to express their emotions” and they “somehow did inspire [him] to write more.” 

Following the end of the poetry competition and looking forward to their next event, Ledesma expressed how “we’re excited to launch it with everyone. And we’re excited to do more projects like this. And especially next year”. 

(with Prince Piolo Tagarino)