A popular travel blogger won a prestigious literary award for a screenplay in Filipino.
Ehdison Dimen, also known as Yosh of the duo The Poor Traveler, won third place in the Dulang Pampelikula category of the 70th Carlos Palanca Awards on November 30.
The Poor Traveler is run by bloggers Dimen and Vins Carlos.
Dimen shared this achievement on social media.
“This travel blogger is now officially a Palanca winner!” he said.
Dimen also accompanied the post with photos of himself receiving the prize at the event.
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Dimen told their followers that his “first love” is writing movies.
He returns to this habit when either he or both he and Carlos are not traveling.
“When I’m not traveling, I (@yoshke) go back to my first love — writing movies. They don’t get produced, but I still do it just because, when I find the time. Didn’t imagine a horror story that came to me in the middle of a sleepless night would give me a Palanca, regarded as the Philippines’ Pulitzer Prize. Over the moon right now,” Dimen said.
The digital creator also expressed gratitude to the different personalities who helped him along the way.
These included award-winning director Antoinette Jadaone who he said was among those who made useful comments on his work.
“Super thanks to @vinscarlos for always letting me work on my side projects. And to @astalavistaph, @illusorily, @koryniledan, @gnarroyo, and @tonetjadaone for the comments. And to @glennituriaga for pushing me to join this year,” Dimen said.
In his post on Facebook, he also expressed gratitude for experiencing milestones in his life this year.
“This has got to be the best year of my life! Got engaged, traveled again after over 2 years, business bounced back, had a fantastic TBEX run, and now this! So over the moon right now. Couldn’t be more grateful!” Dimen said.
Several travel bloggers showered Dimen with congratulatory remarks in the comments section.
“Congrats!” an Indonesian blogger named Trinity Traveler commented with clap emojis.
“Congratsssssssss!!!! Kuya!!!” fellow Filipino blogger the lakwatsero said.
“Congratulations Yosh. You are a star,” an Indian blogger named Raksha Rao said.
Launched over ten years ago, The Poor Traveler earned a reputation for being one of the sought-after blogs for budget travelers in the Philippines and overseas.
It has also reaped awards over the years. These include “The Best Travel Blog” award by E! Blog Awards in 2017 and “Best Budget Travel Blog” by USA Today.
The latest edition of the Carlos Palanca Awards, meanwhile, saw prominent figures and new faces in Philippine literature.
The awards ceremony was held at the Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig last Wednesday.
Big winners include multi-awarded director and poet Khavn dela Cruz who won the grand prize in the Nobela category for his novel “ANTIMARCOS” and Raymundo Pandan, Jr. who won the grand prize in the Novel category for his novel “Bittersweet.”
Journalist Atom Araullo also won his first Palanca award in the Essay category.
