RRI Voice of Indonesia once again held the VOI 2018 Literature Award and talk show themed Guratan Pena: Menjayakan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia” or Encouraging Indonesian Language and Literature." The talk show and the handing over of the award was held at Radio Republik Indonesia, Jakarta, Thursday, 15 November. This is the eighth year for RRI Voice of Indonesia to give appreciation to short story writers of Indonesian diaspora. Secretary of the Language Development and Fostering Agency, Muh. Abdul Khak, in the talk show said, on behalf of the government and the Language Development Board, he appreciated RRI Voice of Indonesia which had organized this extraordinary event. He hoped, in the future, the Language Development and Fostering Agency could work together with RRI Voice of Indonesia in celebrating Indonesian Literature.

"In the future, if later the Language Development and Fostering Agency is asked to cooperate in this context, we welcome it because it is the new task and function of the Language Development and Fostering Agency. There is for example, the center of language and literature development, later there will be language development division, literary development division, which has been a sub-ordinate of languages," said Abdul Khak.

Abdul Khak further explained, every year, the Language Development and Fostering Agency also gave awards to language and literary activists. According to him, next year RRI Voice of Indonesia could work with the Language Development and Fostering Agency to give awards to overseas writers. From a total of 94 short stories that were broadcast by Voice of Indonesia on the Guratan Pena program during 2018, 23 works were entitled to enter the selection round. Based on the selection process, the jury determined 3 (three) literary works to be the winners of the VOI 2018 Literature Award. The first winner is Ayundha Lestari, a migrant worker in Hong Kong, with her short story titled Dunia Sean or Sean’s World, the second winner is Arista Devy, a migrant worker in Hong Kong, with her story titled Rahasia Suki dan Kesaksian Pembantu Pertama or Suki’s Secret and the testimony of the First Assistant, and the third winner is Jassy Ae, a migrant worker in Taiwan, with her story titled Pulang or Coming Home. (VOI/Sekar/AHM)