On Tuesday 13 December 2022, the winners of the National Literary Competition 2022 were awarded the prizes by the Minister for Culture, Sam Tanson. The ceremony took place at the National Literature Centre in Mersch.
The winners of the 2022 edition of the National Literary Competition, whose subject was focused on collections of stories, are:
- John-Paul GOMEZ - first prize in the category " adult authors " for the collection of stories The Idiot of St. Benedict
- Guy HELMINGER - second prize in the category " adult authors " for the collection of stories Das Geräusch der Stillleben
- Elise SCHMIT - third prize in the category " adult authors " for the collection of stories Perfect Spheres – Stories and Complaints
- Zeynep CELIK - incentive award in the category " young authors (15-25 years) " for the collection of stories Do women love?
The jury was composed of Pascal Seil (chairman), Mylène Branco, Marion Rockenbrod, Jeff Schinker et Jeff Thoss.
Sam Tanson underlined the particularity of the competition, which is " to allow anyone to participate anonymously. " The manuscripts submitted are all unpublished and written under a pseudonym. The envelopes containing the names of the winners will only be opened once the winning texts have been selected by the jury. " For a small country, with a small literary scene, remaining anonymous means that texts can be evaluated in a neutral way by a jury that changes every year. Therefore, well-known authors are confirmed, but new writers can also be discovered. "
Since 1978, the Ministry of Culture has organised an annual literary competition aimed at encouraging literary creation in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: the National Literary Competition. Every year, the National Literary Competition focuses on another literary genre. The 2022 edition focused on collections of stories in Luxembourgish, French, German and/or English.
44 productions were submitted in the category " adult authors " and 4 in the category " young authors (15-25 years) ". In terms of languages used, English is gaining ground and was by far the most used language.
The musical accompaniment was provided by the pianist Arthur Possing.
A list of the winners of previous editions is consultable under the following link: https://www.autorenlexikon.lu/page/award/014/14/FRE/index.html.
Press release by the Ministry of Culture