Litratura is a photography and haiku-writing contest orgnaized by the UP Philippines-Japan Friendship Club or UP Tomo-Kai. By photographing glimpses of everyday life and accompanying each piece with a short poem, the competition aims to highlight the “Unusual, Unexpected, yet Unmistakably Filipino”.

U.P. Tomo-Kai was formed over twenty years ago to foster mutual relations between Filipinos and Japanese through bicultural relations. The organization now boasts of members and alumni heavily involved in Japanese studies, cultural exchange programs, and other socially relevant fields.

Supported by the University’s Linguistics Department, College of Education’s Dr. Amelia Fajardo, and Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature’s Dr. Pamela Constantino, U.P. Tomo-Kai continues in its objectives of fostering understanding and appreciation between the two countries.

Criteria for Judging

Photograph (45%)

– Relevance to theme (15%)
– Composition and Creativity (15%)
– Technical Quality (15%)

Haiku (45%)

– Relevance to theme and photo (15%)
– Composition of haiku (20%)
– Technicality (10%)

Facebook Voting (10%)

Prizes

1st: PHP6,000 worth of prizes + Trophy
2nd: PHP3,000 worth of prizes + Certificate
People’s Choice: PHP1,000 worth of prizes + Certificate

Important Dates

Deadline of Submission: 9 February 2011
Judging: 12 February 2011
Announcement of Finalists: 14 February 2011
Online Voting: 14-25 February 2011
Exhibit: 21-25 February 2011
Awarding: 26 February 2011

To be part of Litratura, accomplish the official application form, and deposit the registration fee in UP Tomo-Kai’s Land Bank of the Philippines account. Send a scanned copy of the deposit lip via e-mail to uptomokai [at] gmail [dot] com. For a complete listing of competition rules and other submission requirements, visit the official UP Tomo-kai website.

Announcement as of 04 February 2011

No more registration fee required! Entry senders just need to fill out the registration form (available online), and send the photo (JPEG format only) and haiku (PDF format only) as email attachments to uptomokai@gmail.com! 🙂