Manila: A Filipino student’s proposed website to promote Philippine literature online was judged by Microsoft as one of five winners in a contest for young people worldwide.

“My proposed website, libroko.com (interpreted as my book), can help young students access the two famous novels of national hero Jose Rizal, such as Noli Me Tangere (Touch me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Filibuster) which he wrote in Spanish on the Spanish colonial era in 1887 and 1891 respectively,” said Dominic Co.

Rizal was killed by musketry in Manila’s Luneta Park on December 30, 1896, following allegations that he inspired anti-Spanish sentiment and became one of the leaders of Katipunan, the group that ushered an anti-Spanish revolution in 1898.

The website can help Filipino students source for works of other Filipino writers. It can also serve as a platform for understanding Filipino writers whether they write in Filipino, English, and other dialects in the Philippines, said the 19-year old winning student.

Co vows to develop a curriculum to teach Philippine literature online, adding the website will have a wider reach and impact with the use of information technology.

Specifying his other “noble aim”, Co said, “Nationalism through Philippine literature can be popularised through Microsoft’s information technology.”

His ambitious aim for the website is to include translated works of Filipino writers who write in Filipino and other dialects, including their translation in other foreign languages.

Many Filipino poets, novelists, and short story writers also write in English.

The four other winners of Microsoft YouthSpark Challenge for 2014 have been identified in the contest’s website without their family names.

They include Sara S, based in the United States, who is writing online anyone’s life story, in a website www, journeyintheirshoes.com; Sathya Narayanan S., an Indian who is into digital literacy; Laura F., an American who is for promoting science to women; and Juan Carlos M., a Mexican whose advocacy is to teach science to young people so that they become proficient tech engineers.

All of them will be sent to the Amazon rainforest where they will undergo a two-week training on social entrepreneurship, leadership, conservation and rural development.

Each of them will receive a $2,500 (Dh9,182) cash grant, Microsoft technology bundle, a Windows Phone 8 and Xbox One.