Filipino Dentist Wins Otago University Fiction Writing Competition

Associate Professor Dr. Tino Mercado, a Filipino periodontist at the University of Otago's Faculty of Dentistry, has won the staff fiction category of the university's Writer 2026 competition with his short story Longganisa. His story draws on his family's history and Philippine history, exploring how small, ordinary details carry the weight of larger events.

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Associate Professor Dr. Tino Mercado, a Filipino dental specialist and academic at the University of Otago's Faculty of Dentistry in Dunedin, has won the staff fiction category of the university's Writer 2026 competition. His winning short story, Longganisa – a story of small things, was among six winners selected across the competition's student, staff and alumni poetry and fiction categories, with Dunedin author Paddy Richardson serving as judge.

Dr. Mercado drew inspiration from fragments of his family's history and the history of the Philippines. 'We think of history as the large things; treaties, invasions, liberations. But the large things only touch us through the small ones – the war is a wheeze behind bamboo, a thumb on a wrist, a bar of soap on a bathroom floor,' he said. Richardson praised the story's treatment of the significance of small things in everyday life.

Although known primarily for periodontics, clinical research and dental education, Dr. Mercado has a longstanding interest in writing, having edited his high school newspaper and entered writing competitions before his professional work shifted to scientific papers and literature reviews. He returned to creative writing after moving to New Zealand nearly two years ago following 26 years in Australia. 'I had a story to tell, and a story kept to yourself is only half told. The competition supplied the other half: a deadline, and an audience,' he said.

Dr. Mercado is Immediate Past President of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Periodontists for the 2026–2028 term and Founding President of the Filipino Australian Dental Association, which supports Filipino dental professionals and organises educational and charitable initiatives in the Philippines. The University of Otago's Writer competition, established in 2019 as part of the institution's 150th anniversary celebrations, has previously recognised staff and student writers across its six categories, according to the university's newsroom.