The National Book Development Trust Fund was established (Republic Act No. 9521) in 2009 through the efforts of my predecessor, Dr. Dennis T. Gonzalez, providing a wonderful opportunity for authors to explore and write on topics especially on science and technology and other disciplines for which there is a scarcity of books. If the National Book Development Board (NBDB) is the government agency mandated to provide incentives to promote readership and the publishing industry, then the welfare and concerns of authors need to be addressed. The grant is modest, but hopefully allows authors and researchers to take time off from their day jobs to write on topics of deep interest to them but for which they had neither time nor financial resources.
The call for submissions includes the disciplines or subjects in focus and the initial deadline for which 25 percent of the manuscript or research would be required. It is on this basis that the year’s grantees are selected by an advisory board of two experts in the field and a current governor-member of the NBDB. Each grantee receives P200,000, to be given in three tranches as work progresses in specified stages.
The grant’s end goal—to produce books for the reading public and not just for academic libraries—has not been easily met, for various reasons. Publishers willing to take on completed manuscripts worry, understandably, about their readability and marketability. Thus, grantees are encouraged to write for lay readers rather than for their colleagues in the field. Since the grant was launched in 2011, we have only had eight books from different publishers (more on this next week).
The 2018 call, the seventh since the initial call that garnered 24 submissions, and recently announced on the NBDB website and in social media, is dedicated to supplementary materials that would be used by the public schools especially in the light of the K-to-12 curriculum and the emphasis on Mother Tongue education. After consultations with the Department of Education, the NBDB has decided to help meet its need for current and relevant resources.
What are needed for this year? Supplementary materials written in the mother tongue for Grades 1-3, specifically for the Waray, Méranaw, Kapampangan, Magindanawon, and Tausug languages. Completed manuscripts with Filipino translations must run from 30 to 50 pages. These may be in a single book or a compilation or a four-book series on the environment, people, places and events of the region where the mother tongue is spoken; arts and culture; and poems or short fiction for children.
The deadline for this is July 31.
Two other sets of supplementary materials are sought. One set is for supplementary reading materials for senior high school students (Grades 11 and 12). Completed manuscripts should run from 150 to 200 pages on the following areas: entrepreneurship, environment and disaster risk reduction and management, market research, and technical vocational education focusing on agriculture and fishery, home economics, industrial arts, information, communications and technology.
Another set of supplementary materials is needed for all grade levels, again to complement the DepEd curriculum and learning resources. Manuscripts for these are required to be from 150 to 200 pages. Specific needs are anthologies of Filipino literature in English and Filipino during the precolonial and colonial period; anthologies of music and arts; health education; physical education; basic computer literacy; and gender and development.
Proposals for these supplementary materials are due on Sept. 30.
With these identified needs of the DepEd and the length of time it takes for the supplementary materials to be researched, drafted and revised, and reviewed by independent third parties several times over before the final publication stage, I fervently hope that the materials currently in use in the K-to-12 classrooms are relevant, interesting, adequate—and error-free. Our students deserve only high-quality materials to keep their curiosity and love for learning alive.
For more information, visit https://booksphilippines.gov.ph/call-for-manuscript-submissions-national-book-development-trust-fund-nbdtf.
Neni Sta. Romana Cruz (nenisrcruz@ gmail.com) is chair of the National Book Development Board and a member of the Eggie Apostol Foundation.