And the Winner Is...

CANVAS is very pleased to announce that Ms. Eline Santos has won the 2008 Romeo Forbes Children's Storywriting Competition for her story, "Doll Eyes."

We had a very strong set of entries in the final round, but in the end the judges (singer/actress Lea Salonga, Tin-Aw Art Gallery owner Dawn Atienza, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of the Graduate Studies Office of UP's College of Arts and Letters Wendell Capili) were unanimous.

Congratulations to Ms. Eline Santos and to all the other finalists! CANVAS wishes to also thank all the other writers who submitted entries. We look forward to everyone's continued participation and support in our future competitions.

To read "Doll Eyes" and all the other final round entries, please click on the titles below:

Doll Eyes by Eline Santos

The Search for Magic by Raissa Rivera

Ang Dyip ni Mang Tomas ni Genaro R. Gojo Cruz

The First Jeepney by Agay Llanera

Alay sa Huling Babae sa Bayan ng Suna ni Michael Frianeza

Father Damian's Amazing Carabao by Becky Bravo

What Overweight Means to a Filipino

And on that note, here's something that likely could only happen to Pinoys (the movie notwithstanding):

Parents board flight, forget toddler at airport

Agence France-Presse (through the Inquirer website)
05/14/2008

OTTAWA--Tickets, check. Passports, check. Luggage, check. Baby ... oops.

A family boarded a flight on Monday in westernmost Canada, and forgot their tot at the Vancouver international airport, media said Tuesday.

The 23-month-old boy's family had just arrived in Canada from the Philippines, but they were forced to repack their overweight bags before catching a connecting flight to Winnipeg, causing them to run late.

In their sprint to the gate, the family became separated.

The boy's father Jun Parreno, told local media he had thought his son was with his wife and the boy's grandparents, who ran ahead. They thought the boy was with his dad.

On the plane, the family members were seated separately and so did not immediately realize they had left the child behind.

Sometime later, a security guard found the boy, who speaks no English, wandering near the departure gate, and Air Canada officials tracked down his shocked parents on the flight.

Because the boy was so young, he was not issued a boarding pass and would have sat on a parent's lap during the flight, so airline personnel did not notice a passenger was missing.

According to the Vancouver Sun, airport security found a Tagalog-speaking Air Canada agent who looked after the child while his father flew 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) back to Vancouver to pick him up and then return to Winnipeg to rejoin the immigrant family on their first day in Canada.

The baby was kept in Air Canada's offices and staff found him some toys, said local media.

"Air Canada took good care of him," Parreno told the daily Winnipeg Free Press upon arrival. "I'm grateful."

Reserve Your Copy Now!

Arts Journalism Fellowship

USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program

Application Deadline: June 16, 2008

The USC Annenberg School for Communication and The Getty Foundation have announced the 7th annual USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship. Formerly held during the spring, the program for 2008 will be offered in the fall (November 1 to 22), in order to coincide with USC`s academic year and take advantage of the resources available through the University, including its new Master`s Program in arts journalism.

Six to seven arts journalists who bring distinction to the field will be chosen from the applicant pool. This is an international program for mid-career arts editors, critics and reporters from print, radio, television and online who cover the performing and visual arts, architecture, literature, entertainment and pop culture. They can be generalists or specialists. Staff writers, editors and freelancers and self-employed Web journalists alike are welcome to apply.

Based in Los Angeles, the fellowship is a total immersion experience that includes attending as many as 23 performances, art exhibitions and architectural sites. Participants will visit private studios, rehearsal rooms, architectural firms and art schools providing many behind-the-scene opportunities to meet renowned artists, arts administrators and accomplished journalists face-to-face.

IMPORTANT DETAILS

Institute dates: November 1-22, 2008

How to apply: Email an application request to uscgetty@usc.edu. Include your name, media affiliation(s), number of years you have been practicing arts journalism and your contact information. In addition, please note if you have applied in the past and for what year.

Notification of Acceptance: August 8, 2008

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Cost: The program covers most expenses, including: roundtrip travel to and from Los Angeles, hotel, most meals, reading materials, Internet access in your hotel room and transportation within Los Angeles.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE.

Facebook

Is it just us, or has anyone else noticed a sudden surge of Facebook invitations?

In the past two weeks, we've gone from having no connections to receiving 4 or five invitations per day.

It's amazing how the Internet has undeniably made it easier for Filipinos to connect, and probably to leave as well (knowing that their loved ones are just a free skype call away).

The use of networking sites like Facebook, Friendster and Multiply by Filipinos is well known and documented - we suppose it reflects something about our social nature. But it is important for us - and government - to study and understand this trend more.

We did an informal survey of some twelve community e-centers in various rural barangays throughout the Philippines several months back. It wasn't very scientific, but we found that fully 70% of the users were women, and majority of them were using it to surf social networking sites. Apparently, they were looking for companionship, or more bluntly, husbands.

Now, we should point out that there is nothing wrong, we think, about using the Internet to do this. After all, millions of people all over the world go to online dating services for precisely the same reason.

But, it behooves government to see if it can validate that this is a larger trend. Because if it is, then there are policy steps that need to be taken. At the very least, we believe that government must make a conscious and very public effort to educate our fellow Filipinos and Filipinas on the possible dangers of online "friendships" with a view - not of censoring or discouraging certain types of Internet use - but of fostering a safe environment that will further strengthen the links that bind Filipinos everywhere.