MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Highlighting Filipino creativity and imaginative community during the National Arts Month (NAM) celebration with the theme “Ani ng Sining, Bayang Malikhain,” the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) honored 26 Filipino talents during the 16th Ani ng Dangal Awards held on February 20, 2024, at the Metropolitan Theater, Ermita, Manila.
This year, the awardee from Architecture and Allied Arts is the LPPA Design Group/L.P. Pariñas & Associates, who won 5-star Best Residential High Rise Architecture at the International Property Awards 2022-2023 in the Asia Pacific on June 2022.
For Cinema, seven awardees were recognized including, six films and one director, Sam Manacsa, Best Director for Cross My Heart and Hope to Die at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival in 2023. The following films bagged top awards from different film festivals: The River That Never Ends directed by JT Trinidad, Best Asian Short Film at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival in 2023; HITO directed by Stephen Lopez, Blencong Award at the 18th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2023 and Best Film at the 20th Vienna Shorts-International Short Film Festival in Vienna, Australia on June 2023; Bold Eagle directed by Whammy Alcazaren, Best Short Film Prize at the 27th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada on July 2023; When You Left Me On That Boulevard directed by Kayla Abuda Galang, Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, United States of America (USA); Did it Hurt? directed by Nathan Carreon Lim, Best Fiction Short Film at the 53rd Tampere Film Festival in Tampere, Finland on March 2023; and Blue Room directed by Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan, Best Foreign Film at the 19th edition of LA Femme International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California on October 2023.
For Dance, there are nine awardees who excelled in different dance genres such as folk dance, hip hop, para dance sport, street dance, pole dance, and ballet. For folk dance, La Salle Filipiniana Dance Company won first Place in different categories, namely Folk Dance Group, Folk Dance Formation, and Folk Dance Duo at the International Dance Organization World Dance Festival 2023 in South Korea on August 2023. For hip hop, there are Legit Status, MegaCrew Division Gold Medalist and World Champion at the 2023 World Hip Hop Dance Championship in USA on August 2023; and HQ Dance Collective, Gold Medalist in Adult Division at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona in August 2023. For para dance sport there are: Rhea R. Marquez, Gold Medalist in Adults Combi Class 2 Latin and Combi Freestyle Class Showdance Latin at the 2023 World Para Dance Sport Championships in Genova, Italy on November 2023; Julius Jun M. Obero, Gold Medalist in Single Men’s Adults Conventional Class 2 St+Lat, Adults Freestyle Class 2 Showdance, Adults Duo Class 2 Latin, Adults Combi Class 2 Latin, and Combi Freestyle Class Showdance Latin at the 2023 World Para Dance Sport Championships in Genova, Italy on November 2023; and Edelyn P. De Asis, Gold Medalist in Women’s Adults Freestyle Class 2 Show Dance, Solo Women’s Junior Class 1+2 St+Lat, Adults Duo Freestyle Class 2 Showdance, Adults Duo Class 2 Latin at the Genoa 2023 World Para Dance Sport Championships in Genova, Italy on November 2023.
For street dance, Folk Jumpers is the Monster Crew Division Champions at the 2023 World Supremacy Battlegrounds in Australia on August 2023. For pole dance, Kristel de Catalina is the Professional Pole Champion and Overall Champion at the Viva Circus Awards 2023 in Malaysia on July 23, 2023. The Halili-Cruz School of Ballet dancers earned various awards in different ballet categories, namely Princess Arvinah Caballero, first Place in Teen (15 under) Hip Hop Solo Category; Paula Mariel Evangelio, first Place in Senior (17 under) Hip Hop Solo Category; Katherine Marie Furugganan, Alexa Denise Vicencio, and Gia Simone Garin, first Place in Senior (17 under) Jazz Trio category; and Phoemela Angela Esluzar and Angela Marie Lopez, first Place in Open Lyrical Duo category at the Nuvo Dance Convention 2023 in Utah, USA and 2023 Asia Pacific Dance Competition.
The awardee from Literary Arts is Dr. Jesus C. Insilada, screenwriter of the Best Film Sa Paglupad ka Banog (The Flight of Banog) at the 13th Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival in Malaysia on September 2023.
Among the six awardees from Music are choral groups and their conductors including: De La Salle University Chorale, Grand Prix at the Busan Chorale Festival and Competition in South Korea on October 2023 with their conductor, Jose Emmanuel D. Aquino who won Best Conductor at the same competition; and Kammerchor Manila won the Pavarotti Trophy in the Choir of the World competition at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in United Kingdom on July 2023, and Absolute Winner at the 69th International Choral Contest Habaneras and Polyphony Torrevieja 2023 in Spain on July 2023 with their conductor, Anthony Villanueva who won Best Conductor at the 69th International Choral Contest Habaneras and Polyphony Torrevieja 2023 in Spain on July 2023. Young Voices of the Philippines, another choral group, is the champion at the 12th Golden Gate International Choral Festival in San Francisco, USA on July 2023. Whereas for the individual category, Jannina Eliana “Janna” G. Peña won First Prize at the Big Arts Classical Music Scholarship in USA on April 2022.
The two awardees from Visual Arts are Albert Emir B. Reyes, first Prize Winner (1er Prix) in 18 to 25 category at the 30th Edition of the International Fine Arts Competition 2023 in France from July 2022 to January 2023; and Domcar Calinawan Lagto, Grand Winner at the HUAWEI XMAGE Awards in China in 2023.
Ani ng Dangal
The Ani ng Dangal or Harvest of Honor is a state recognition given by the NCCA as the highlight and concluding rite of the NAM. It is an annual event to celebrate Filipino talent who have earned highest international awards and accolades in the categories of Architecture and Allied Arts, Cinema, Dance, Literary Arts, Music, and Visual Arts.
The Ani ng Dangal trophy is a stylized sarimanok sculpted by National Artist for Visual Arts Abdulmari Imao, which represents the Filipino artist’s achievements in the global stage. The logo of Ani ng Dangal — stylized rice stalk, alludes to the rice harvest as a metaphor for an art harvest: a product of the creative process that expresses the dreams, aspirations, and ideals of the Filipino artist. It bears seven grains, which is representative of the seven arts, while its bright colors evoke the festive mood of NAM, symbolizing the abundance and excellence of Filipino artistry.
