About the Phan Waen Fah Award

          The Phan Waen Fah Award was established by the Secretariat of the House of Representatives in 2002, which coincided with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the National Assembly of Thailand. The aim was to give recognition to the significant role of literary works in helping to strengthen politics and society as well as to promote the creation of literary works on politics in the Thai literary circle.

          At its initial stage, the contest was limited to merely political short stories. Later on, the contest was expanded to include political poetry. Over the years the Phan Waen Fah Award has gained increasing interest and attention from the youth, students and the public. The Phan Waen Fah Award has served as a mirror reflecting the society and politics through storytelling in the form of artistic verbal composition. The Award has, moreover, helped enhance confidence in democracy and good citizenship to those who frequent this path. During the years 2002 to 2013 the objectives of the contest were to encourage the public to express their political freedom through the art of writing so as to convey their feelings, depict political and social milieus or portray in words their imagination of the ideal politics they wished to see in the forms of short stories and poetry. As for poetry, this genre was added to the contest in 2003 which was the second year of the Award.

          In the year 2011, which was the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Phan Waen Fah Award, the Committee honored the winners whose works subtly, vividly and beautifully delineate the viewpoints and distinctive issues of Thai democracy in the past and at present. These works were well worth publicized to the public so as to create awareness as well as give inspiration to democracy enthusiasts. In 2014, there was no contest due to the political climate at the time. In 2015, the Phan Waen Fah Award was revived and organized to commemorate the 120th birthday anniversary of H.M. King Prajadhipok. The contest categories included two genres: documentaries and poetry. Since 2016 the Phan Waen Fah Award has been organized annually on the theme of promoting democratic citizenship and the contest categories include both short stories and poetry.

          The year 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the of the establishment of the Phan Waen Fah Award. During the past two decades there have been altogether more than ten thousand entries as well as more than 200 experts who took turns being on the judging committee. The Phan Waen Fah Award, thus, has become in its own right an institution of awards for political literary works. Ever since its inception the Award has promoted and honored writers who have created political literary pieces throughout 2 decades. The year 2022 is the journey to the 3rd decade of the Phan Waen Fah Award, still serving as a mirror reflecting the society and politics for developing Thai Democracy and stimulate people participatory through literary works as adhered to its motto, "The Phan Waen Fah Award continues and encourages the creation of political literary works.”

          The Phan Waen Fah Award is annually presented to winners of political short stories and political poems by the National Assembly in support of parliamentary democracy with the King as the Head of the State. Throughout these past two decades the Award has successfully encouraged the public to express their political freedom through literary works and raised their awareness of good citizenship in the democratic system as well as has stimulated the creation of more political literary works.

          The term "Phan Waen Fah” refers to a two-tier tray. The upper tier, which is smaller, is placed on top on the lower tier, which is bigger. This two-tier tray is used for displaying precious holy religious or royal items. In this context, the tray is used to display the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the country and is the symbol of the Thai National Assembly.