Entering the Final Stage: The 10th Padjadjaran English Competition

Jakarta: As months passed by and November arrived, the 10th Padjadjaran English Competition has wrapped up its registration and submission period and is moving forward with its main event. Set to take place on November 22nd and 23rd, this competition successfully continues its legacy during the registration period, attracting a wide range of national and international participants. Taking the theme “So It Is Better to Speak Remembering We Were Never Meant to Survive” from Audre Lorde’s poem ‘A Litany of Survival’, PEC aims to encourage participants to utilize their strength, by speaking, writing, and voicing out their concerns through literature as a form of resistance.

Following last year’s success, PEC has once again gained national and international attention in its tenth year. This year, the competition continues to grow not only in scale but also in diversity. The number of participants registered has increased from the previous year, coming from a wider range of regions in Indonesia and multiple countries abroad. Notably, several provinces that had yet to be represented in the competition last year have now joined, such as East and West Kalimantan, bringing fresh perspectives and voices to be heard in the competition. Beyond the national scope, PEC also welcomes participants from countries that previously had not taken part, such as the United States of America, Colombia, and Russia, marking a milestone in its tenth year. This growing participation and anticipation reflect PEC’s strengthened reputation and show how the stage continues to attract young voices who are ready to speak, write, and be heard.

To support the category of competitions presented this year, the 10th Padjadjaran English Competition proudly welcomes an outstanding panel of judges, featuring professionals and experts from various fields and diverse backgrounds for each competition category. As the years before, PEC is divided into two categories of level, High School and University, with the former featuring Speech, Storytelling, and Short Story Writing, and the latter featuring Speech, Essay Writing, Poetry Reading and Writing, and Short Story Writing.

Among the judges at the High School level is Patrick Stevens, a graduate of the Master of Professional Studies in Management program at Cornell University with an established screenwriting and filmmaking resume and active participation as a speaker in public events, who will become one of the judges in the Speech category. Joining him as one of the judges in the Storytelling category is Catur Surya Permana, a lecturer in the Music of Art Study Program at Universitas Pasundan. The last category on the level is the Short Story Writing category, which will feature Iwan Sulistiawan, a lecturer of the English program of Universitas LIA and a prose writer who has published fictional works such as Miskin Tapi Sombong (2009) and Kupu-Kupu Pembunuh Naga (2011) under the pen name of “Bung Kelinci” as one of the judges.
 

As for the University level, the Speech category will include Atik Ambarwati, a humanitarian and gender analyst with extensive experience in gender integration, disaster risk management, and community resilience in Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific, as one of the judges. The Essay Writing category will feature Ida Farida Sachmadi, an Associate Professor in the English Literature Study Program in Universitas Padjadjaran, whose expertise is in Children's and Young Adult Literature, with recent work covering the Stigmatisation, Marginalisation, and Agency in Keluarga Cemara, in the category’s judges panel. 

Pradewi Tri Chatami, an active writer, editor, and translator whose poems and works have been published across online platforms, is one of the judges in the Poetry Reading and Writing category. Meanwhile, at last, for the last category on University level, Gratiagusti Chananya ‘Anya’ Rompas, an Indonesian poet whose works included Kota Ini Kembang Api (2016), Non-Spesifik (2017), and e_________y (2022) and a receiver of the Honorable Mention from the Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry in 2018, will be one of the judges for the Short Story Writing category.


(Foto: Dok. Ist)

The judges introduced above only represent a selection of the many professionals who will contribute to this year's Padjadjaran English Competition. Behind each competition category stands a broader panel of experts, who will play a significant role in evaluating performances and written works within the competition. This year, PEC also collaborated with several international judges from various countries, such as Joselito D. delos Reyes, a faculty member at the University of Santo Tomas Department of Literature, and Angelo R. Sarge Lacuesta, an award-winning fiction writer, from the Philippines, Mark Spears from the United States, and Juma Imamu from Tanzania, who is reprising his role as a judge in the competition. In total, PEC is joined by more than 30 judges across all competition categories. Such as Juma Imamu, PEC also brings back several judges who have previously served in earlier years of the competition.

Counting down the days leading to the main event, all participants are encouraged to embrace the competition's theme, “So It Is Better to Speak Remembering We Were Never Meant to Survive” from Audre Lorde’s poem ‘A Litany of Survival’. The competition will unfold in a hybrid format with both online and onsite participants for all categories of competition. Further information regarding the competition can be accessed through the social media contacts listed: @pec_unpad (Instagram), PEC Universitas Padjadjaran (Facebook), and pec.unpad (TikTok).