The national Kompas daily newspaper announced in June 2013 that the “Gunny Sack Carrier” written by Budi Darma won the best short story of 2012.   It was selected from a pool of 19 nominated short stories.  According to the selection committee, the rich nuanced story has been able to potrait Indonesian children who are generally brought up in a tradition where they presumably live among scary figures and myths.  People have one of their feet set in the modern world, and the other is entangled in the myths and traditions.

Budi Darma won the same recognition from Kompas in 1999 for this short story entitled “Derabat.”

Budi Darma, being a prolific and renowned novelist, short story writer, and professor of English language and literature at Surabaya State University, also won another recoqnition from the same newspaper this year as being one of the most dedicated intellectuals of 2013.  Budi Darma is 1974 and 1980 Fulbright grantee to Indiana University.  He has won recognitions/awards including the Medal of Honor from the President for his contribution to the development of the field of culture in Indonesia, the Southeast Asian Writing Award being one of Indonesia’s most distinguished writers of fiction, and the Achmad Bakrie Award for his life time achievement in the field of creative writing.