MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Filipino Critics Circle (FCC) are now accepting nominations for the 43rd National Book Awards (NBA).
First administered by the Filipino Critics Circle or the FCC (formerly known as the Manila Critics Circle) in 1982, the NBA honors the most outstanding books written and published in the Philippines. In 2008, the FCC partnered with the NBDB to co-administer the awards.
“The National Book Awards not only rightfully honor the best works produced by our country’s finest minds and talents, they also provide an occasion for us to take stock of the zeitgeist, our writers’ current preoccupations, and where our book industry is headed,” said NBDB Executive Director Charisse Aquino-Tugade.
The deadline for nominations is on September 7, 2025. To be eligible, authors and publishers should be NBDB-registered while their works must be published in 2024 and have significance, soundness of content, quality of craft, readability, grammar, copy editing, structure of thought and ideas, and style.
“The National Book Awards serve as official recognition of the quality and relevance of winning books, highlighting their contributions and relevance to the growth of Philippine literature, across multiple categories and genres. The NBA is important to us as Filipinos, as we recognize books that matter to us, as a people, while also serving as a portal of possibilities for readers outside of our country,” said FCC Chair Dean Francis Alfar.
He added, “the roster of winners for any given cycle provides a curated list of the best contemporary writing, reflecting not just Filipino sensibilities, but also what concerns and hopes we have, seen through the lens of both fiction and nonfiction.”
Books published for the first time by a Philippine publisher and works with local editions previously published by foreign authors are also eligible for the awards for as long as it has been locally published.
Under the literary division, books will be recognized in categories such as novel, short fiction, nonfiction prose, anthology, drama and film, literary criticism and cultural studies, literary history, media studies, poetry, graphic novel and comics, and translation.
Meanwhile, in the non-literary division, books will be awarded in fields of art, professions, social sciences, history, journalism, humor, sports, lifestyle, and business, food, science, spirituality and theology, and philosophy.
Every year, the NBA honors a different regional language. This year, it will be Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Kiniray-a. All books published in these languages within the last three years (2022-2024) are eligible for the awards regardless of genre.
Finally, the Best Book Design award will be given to the work with the best overall design, which encompasses the cover, typeface, dimensions, layout, type of paper, binding, and printing. A Publisher of the Year award, or the publisher with the highest total number of winners in all categories, will also be given.
“The Filipino Critics Circle and the National Book Development Board recognize the challenges of writing, editing, illustrating, translating, designing, and producing books. We encourage publishers of all stripes, as well as authors, to submit books for consideration. Being part of the list of finalists is an achievement in and of itself, bringing more awareness of your book to the reading public,” Alfar said.
All nominations shall be submitted through the official online nomination form. Two printed copies of the book shall also be submitted together with one digitally non-editable watermarked PDF. For nominated titles under the Translation category, submissions must also include either one printed copy or one digitally non-editable watermarked PDF of the original work from which the translation originated. For complete submission guidelines, check out this link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1761KPKJ3H/
The nominated books will undergo a round of deliberations from which no more than five titles will be chosen as finalists per category. The finalists will be required to submit an additional eight copies of their books to the NBDB; non-submission will mean disqualification from the selection. In the final deliberation, one winner will be picked from the finalists of each category.
The winner of each category, except the Publisher of the Year, will receive PHP 40,000.00.
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