Illustration by Ruben de Jesus
2025 PBBY-De Jesus Wordless Book Prize
Call for Entries
PBBY is now accepting digital entries for the 2025 PBBY Wordless Book Prize.
The winner shall receive a cash prize of PHP20,000, a medal, and an opportunity to be published. Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony to be held on National Children’s Book Day on July 15, 2025.
The PBBY prize for wordless books is named for Ruben “Totet” de Jesus, who was the Illustrators’ Sectoral Representative of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) and a founding member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK). His illustrations have received awards from the Noma Concours for Children’s Book Illustrations (Tokyo, Japan) and the New York Showcase Exhibition and Competition of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
He was a beloved professor of the UP College of Fine Arts who shared his creative approaches to illustration and stressed the importance of professionalism with this students.
Ruben de Jesus passed away in 2023.
As its name suggests, a wordless book relies solely on pictures to tell a story. They exercise a reader’s skills in observation and comprehension. And they can offer children greater freedom to use their imagination and build their own narratives.
Recognizing the dearth of local wordless children’s books, the PBBY established the first PBBY-Wordless Picture Book Prize in the Philippines in 2018.
Its awardees include Harry Monzon (Pagkatapos ng Unos, PBBY 2020), Christian Oliver Cruz (Pibò, Lampara 2021), Nina Martinez (Ang Mga Sikreto ng Langit at Dagat, unpublished), Angela Taguiang (Silong, unpublished), and Shekinah S. Angiwan-Gutierrez (Lola’s Pandesal, unpublished).
