FILIPINO WINS 2007 SOUTHEAST ASIAN WRITERS AWARDS 

17 October 2007 – Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Antonio V. Rodriguez reported to the department that Mr. Michael M. Coroza is the Philippines' Southeast Asian Write Awardee for 2007.  Mr. Coroza was presented the award at a ceremony held on 12 October 2007 at The Oriental, Bangkok, presided by HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana. 

The S.E.A. Write Awards, or the Southeast Asian Writers Awards, is organized annually by the royal family of Thailand since 1979 to give recognition to leading poets, creative writers and other literary talents in the ASEAN region. 

Mr. Coroza is a multi-awarded poet, essayist, translator and editor. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Filipino, School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, handling graduate and undergraduate courses in Filipino Literature, Poetry Writing, and Literary Translation. He has received major awards from the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature for his poetry and essay, Talaang Ginto sa Tula - Gantimpalang Collantes (Golden Poetry List - Collantes Awards), and Home Life Magazine National Poetry Contest. His two books of poems, Dilit Dilim (Thought and Darkness, 1997) and Mga Lagot na Liwanag (Severed Lights, 2002) were both finalists in the National Book Award for Poetry of the Manila Critics Circle. As an oral poet, he has widely performed the Balagtasan (traditional debate in verse) locally and other places abroad like Singapore and Hawaii. He represented the Philippines in the 10^th Kuala Lumpur International Poetry Reading in 2004. He hosts Harana ng Puso (Heart's Serenade), a weekly radio show over 104.3 FM of the Philippine Broadcasting Service, where he features and annotates traditional and classic Filipino songs and poems. 

/Gary