T

he annual 2017 Rancage Literary Awards to honor ethnic language literary works was held on Saturday evening to celebrate the country’s diversity and to help preserve local ethnic languages.

The 28th annual awards held by the Rancage Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on the preservation and development of ethnic languages and local literature, gave accolades to six authors.

“So many books written in ethnic languages were published in 2016. Not only in Sundanese, Bataknese, Javanese or Balinese languages, but also in other languages that have not previously been awarded by the Rancage Literary Awards,” the chairman of the foundation Ajip Rosidi said in Bandung recently.

The awards, which began in 1989, were initially bestowed for the best works in West Java’s traditional Sundanese language. The award then evolved into the country’s sole literary awards for works written in ethnic languages such as Bataknese, Balinese and Lampung.

Ajip said the committee had agreed for the first time to asses books published in the Banjar language of South Kalimantan. The award for best Banjar work went to Jamal T. Suryanata for his romance work “Pembatangaan,” which tells the story of a wood seller with an expansive command of Banjar vocabulary.

This year the foundation also handed out 11 presents and a special award for a short story written in Bataknese entitled “Palombu-lombu” (Cowherd) by Soekirman Ompu Abimanyu. All awardees received cash presents of Rp 5 million (US$379).

Owing to funding limitations, the foundation would only hand over a cash prize for one winner next year, Ajib said.

At this year’s awards, a short story entitled “Di Antara Tilu Jaman” (In between three ages) by Aam won best Sundanese literary work from a field of 23 published in that language in 2016.

Meanwhile, the 2017 Rancage award for works written in Javanese went to historical romance piece “Agul-Agul Balambangan” by Moh Syaiful. A merit award was also given to Abdullah Purwodasrsono who has been involved for decades in the publishing of Javanese literature in the Djaka Lodang weekly in Yogyakarta.

Dewa Ayu Carma Citrawati received the accolade for best Balinese work for her short story, “Kutang Sayang Gemel Madui.” Her work was chosen as the best of 10 literary works published in 2016, a decrease from 17 titles published in Balinese in 2015.

The award for best Lampung language work went to “Negarabatin” by Udo Z. Karzi.

Author Tansiswo Siagian received the Bataknese langauge award for his short stories compilation, “Sonduk Hela.” In the same category, a local language community called Tortor Sangombas also received a merit award for its contribution to reviving Bataknese literature.

Meanwhile, West Java Deputy Governor Deddy Mizwar expressed his appreciation to the awards for helping promote and preserve ethnic languages.