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Literary contest Litera announced

By Mariam Chanishvili
Tuesday, February 25
Literary contest Litera has been announced by the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Writers' House.

Literature prize Litera features 6 nominations: Best prose collection, best novel, best poetry collection, best documentary prose, best book-cover design, best debut. Winner of each nomination will receive a cash prize of 5000 GEL.

The competition will review original Georgian works published in 2017. The first edition of the book must be presented for the award. Only a publisher can present a book for the award.

The deadline for submission of applications is March 6, 2020. The jury will present a shortlist of contestants at the end of May. Winners will be announced from June 8 to June 11.

The jury will change every year and include those authors, whose work will not be presented at the award that year. The winner will be revealed through anonymous voting.

The Literature prize was established in 2015 by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and the Writers' House and has been taking place annually since then.

The winners of the literary contest feature famous Georgian writers and artists.

The winners of the 2016 literary prize were Besik Kharanauli, Vakhtang Javakhadze, Naira Gelashvili, Zviad Ratiani, Nana Ekvtimishvili, Archil Kikodze, Rostom Chkheidze, Zurab Karumidze, Giorgi Shonia, Soso Meshveliashvili, Lela Samniashvili, Natalia Avaliani, Maxime Machaidze.

In 2011 and 2015, Besik Kharanauli was nominated for the Nobel prize for literature by the Georgian government. In 2015, he won the SABA literary prize for the Contribution to the Development of Georgian Literature.

The aim of Writers' House is the popularization of Georgian literature, development of creative translation, supporting different literary processes, establishing literary competitions and awards, actively interacting with governmental and non-governmental structures abroad.