[PIO] Announcement by the Deputy Ministry of Culture: State Literature Prizes for publications of the year 2022

The Department of Modern and Contemporary Culture of the Ministry of Culture announces the results of the competition for the State Literature Awards for publications of the year 2022:

[1. POETRY

The State Poetry Prize for Publications for the year 2022, following a majority decision of the Jury, is awarded to Panagiotis Nikolaidis for his work Rimaho (Smili Publications).

Award citation. The poet, heir to the trauma of 1974, as he belongs to a younger poetic generation with an indirect experiential relationship to the invasion, forms a private poetic code of high tone and elegiac density, realistic and at the same time metaphorical, using a contemporary language, which functionally incorporates the Cypriot dialect. At the core of this poetic project Nicolaides places a poetic persona, Rimahos, which first appeared fifty years ago in the work of Kyriakos Charalambides and was subsequently grafted onto the work of other Cypriot poets. In this way, by recalling in today's reality a spectral form, he extends a poetic tradition and integrates the collection into an intertextual grid (this grid includes in the last part of the collection the Letters of Rimaho to Rimahona - also a spectral form, which first appeared in the work of K. Vassiliou), setting up multiple semantic levels. Panagiotis Nicolaides' Rimaho is a multidimensional poetic composition, which recalls poets and local poetic myths, dialogues with them and gives them functional implications.

List of prevalent works (alphabetically) in the category Poetry:

1. Loizidis Vakis, False Fireplace(Mandragoras Publications)
2. Moleskis George, Open Sky (Bacchicon Publications)
3. Nicolaides Panagiotis, Rimaho (Smilis publications)
4. Nikolaou Roxani, Salos magnetis (Farfoulas publications)
5. Papageorgiou Konstantinos, Anthropocene (Enypnio publications)

2. Novel

The State Novel Prize for publishing in 2022, following a majority decision of the Jury, is awarded to Konstantia Sotiriou for her work BrandySour (Pataki Publications).

Award citation:

Constantia Sotiriou's book BrandySour, a dense, spine-tingling novel of 22 well-written chapters centred on the famous Ledra Palace Hotel, touchingly and light-heartedly activates tropes and traumas of the collective Cypriot memory. Without being experimental in its level of enunciation and narrative technique, it is fragmentary in its structure. It develops as a bundle of short and relatively autonomous stories with distinct or implied joints, which, beyond their literalness, function metonymically and metaphorically: the Cypriot geographical space and history, the hotel, the ingredients with which a cocktail or a traditional drink is made. In order to assemble the novel's unity, the reader has to be activated in order to reconstruct the irony that exists between the micro-histories. However, relatively self-contained or more coherent, these micro-stories stand out for their original and inventive wit, linguistic agility, and eloquent but apt characterization.

List of shortlisted works (alphabetically) in the Novel category:

1. Karayan Andreas, The Fifth Book (Estia Publications)
2. Michaelides Marios, The Contract (Hellenic Education Publications)
3. Nikolaou Katerina, Of the Wolf: Eros in the Heart of the Forest (To Rodakio Publications)
4. Sotiriou Konstantia, Brandy Sour (Pataki Publications)
5. Chatzikyriakos Andreas, Flight CY284 (Kastaniotis Publications)

3. Short Story/Novel

The State Prize for Short Story/Novel for publications of the year 2022, following a majority decision of the Jury, is awarded to Maria A. Ioannou for her work The Intermediates (Nefeli Publications).

Award citation. The experimentation in the collection's short stories runs across narrative surface and narrative syntax, infuses rhetoric and serves the thematic. The themes are many, but always interesting, despite their concise presentation: alienated contemporary life, the sense of adulthood and its association with a web of impasses, the sadness that accompanies the memory of childhood, the loss of persons identified with stability, omnipresent traumas, erotic openings and foldings, gender concerns, existential quests. Ioannou's short narratives reveal progressively underlit areas of reality, while her subtle, in places, use of the idiom demonstrates its importance in contemporary literature as well. In terms of technique, the short narratives, written with exceptional ironic subtlety, poignancy and penetrating humour, are often delivered in an associative discourse, indicative of a mature knowledge of the narrative mode of stream of consciousness. These neotropisms of the contemporary manage to encapsulate, without interference, the Cypriot dialect, even making it "participate" in verbal or even figurative games.

List of the most popular works (alphabetically) in the category Short Story/Novel:

1. Georgiou Antonis, The Breath of the Next (published by To Rodakio)
2. Ioannou Maria A., The Intermediates: Short stories (Nefeli publications)
3. Stylianou Kyriakos, Stylianou, Stolen Games (Armida publications) [*]Filousi Nena, Fruits on a plate and other tendernesses (Vakhikon publications) [*]Halikiopoulos Christos, Something from them (Germanos publications)

4. Essay / Study:

The Committee decided that the State Prize for Study (Monograph)/Edition for Literature for publications in 2022 will not be awarded.

5. New Writer Award:

The State Prize for Young Writer for publications in 2022, following a unanimous decision of the Jury, is awarded to Pavlos Andreou for his work Ice Cream Tears (Thraka Publications).

Award citation. Andreou's poetry introduces us to a field of references that is at the same time novel, that is, original and still youthful. His poetic discourse impresses with its power, its literalness and its boldness. Although this is the work of a young poet, early elegiac memories can be discerned in it. But his usually active and aggressive speech shows a consciousness that suffers and excels for it. With language that strives to be performative, with bold couplets and original images, Andreou's poetry undoubtedly has expressive power and leaves much promise.

List of the most successful works (alphabetically) in the category Young Writer's Prize:

1. Andreou Pavlos, Ice Cream Tears (Thraka Publications)
2. Ioannidou Anna, Fingerprints (Armida Publications)
3. Barca Sophia, The Truth of the Desert (Almyra Publications)

The Jury of the State Literature Awards 2021 consisted of: Pantelis Voutouris (Chairman), Alexis Ziras, Mary Koutselini, Aristotle Sainis and Ilia Hadjipanagioti.

6. Literature for Young Children

The State Prize for Literature for Young Children for publications of the year 2022, following a unanimous decision of the Jury, is awarded to Despina Irakleous for her work Where did the ghosts go? (Diaplasi Publications).

Award cover:

Despina Irakleous' book Where did the ghosts go? introduces us to an adorable little girl, Emilia, who is usually left alone not only at school, since the other children make fun of her, but mostly in her huge house, since her parents spend endless hours at work. At some point, their house is filled with ghosts and her mother adds to her already burdened agenda with her daughter's visits to a specialist. But when a small puppy unexpectedly enters her life, all the ghosts gradually disappear. The book adopts a child's perspective and an authentic child's voice in order to address childhood fears. Without ever naming the social isolation, loneliness or parental absence that haunt children's lives like modern ghosts, the book humorously refers to a widespread problematic situation and outlines its solution. Heracleous's picture book seems to address young children and their parents at the same time, perhaps to remind them that excessive material needs are not the most important thing they have to offer.

List of favourite works (alphabetically) in the category Literature for Young Children:

1. Antoniadou Eleni, Mr. Arthur's little shop (Kastaniotis Publications)
2. Eleftheriou Sandra, You are a star! (Metaixmio Publications)
3. Irakleous Despina, Where did the ghosts go? (Diaplasi Publications)
4. Kouppanou Anna, Lena and the bee (Pataki Publications)
5. Louca Sylvia A., Grandmother, Sophia: The Grandmother of the Heart (Pataki Publications)

7. The State Prize for Literature for Older Children and Adolescents

The State Prize for Literature for Older Children and Adolescents for publications of the year 2022, following a unanimous decision of the Jury, is awarded to Petros Panaou for his work Operation Logos.

Award citation. Teenager Renos, addicted to reading books, while searching the library for his daily reading 'dose', discovers, buried in an old book, a sophisticated cell phone-like speech device that is easily manipulated. That's why it quickly falls into the hands of secret agents and a dangerous prime minister. Then the only solution seems to be to retrieve it, and use it for 'good'. In a novel with strong elements of detective plot and science fiction, the unexpected humour of a first-person teenage narrative voice, in a flowing and self-deprecating style, describes the emotional turmoil experienced by a teenager, and at the same time constructs a technologically advanced society, which surprisingly does not create any openness in the reader, teenager or adult. The psychological closeness of the reader to the main character, the intimacy established by the strong intertextual references to favourite readings and popular songs, as well as the existence of contemporary social and political conditions, which make the dystopia a desirable reality, contribute to this.

List of the most popular works (alphabetically) in the category Literature for Young Children and Adolescents:

1. Zarintas Antonis, The questions that will change the world (Hellenoekdotiki Publications)
2. Irakleous Despina, Melousina (Kaleidoscope Publications)
3. Xenophontos-Gaitanou Anastasia, Lavender-scented Friendship (Pataki Publications)
4. Panaou Petros, Operation Logos: The mystery of the mobile phone (Telia Publications)

The Jury of the 2022 State Literature Awards for Children and Adolescents consisted of: Angeliki Giannikopoulou (President), Angela Kaimaklioti, Rebecca Nicolaidou-Pieris, Mariza Decastro and Yannis Papadatos

8. The State Prize for Literary Book Illustration for Children and Adolescents

The State Prize for Literary Book Illustration for Children and Adolescents for publications of the year 2022, following a majority decision of the Jury, is awarded to Chryso Charalambous for the illustration of the work 1000 Ways to Squeeze a Lemon (author: Danae Daska, Papadopoulos Publications).

Award citation:

In the book 1000 ways to squeeze a lemon , Chryso Charalambous makes the most of Danae Daska's simple but humorous text. The assumption that one can squeeze a lemon anywhere triggers a series of diverse, clever and imaginative images. In the first image, a simple, transparent glass with a lemon in it foreshadows, ostensibly, the pages that follow. However, what follows is a series of images that defy scale and common practices and depict the maneuvering, balancing, pushing, twisting and squeezing of a lemon with humor and wit: on the Eiffel Tower, on the edge of the elliptical moon, on the heel of a boot, and elsewhere. The images are colorful, spacious, yet detailed. Each emanates its own sense; each may, for example, allude to a small sketch or extend across the opening of the book as a narrative sequence. The details of each image are particularly pleasing because they are placed in beautifully structured and accentuated simple shapes among expanses of solid color. In each two-page spread of the book, this simplified but well-structured design play is evident, with which the illustrator successfully manages the relationship between the subject, the background, and the other elements of each composition. The illustrations invite the reader/listener to generate new ideas about where else one might squeeze the lemon.

List of winning works (alphabetically) in the Literary Book Illustration for Children and Teens category:

1. A bully in our school (author: Christopoulou Anastasia, illustrator: Eleftheriou Sandra) (Psychogios Publications)
2. You are a star! (author, illustrator: Eleftheriou Sandra) (Metaixmio publications)
3. Deon the accordion (author: Charalambous Cleopatra, illustrator: Emmanuel Ermina) (Music Moments Culture publications)
4. A Grandfather Dummy (author: Aristotelous Tasos, illustrator: Filippou Ioanna) (K. Epifaniou)
5. 1000 ways to squeeze a lemon (author: Konstantinos Georgiou (Chairman), Elizabeth Hoak-Doering, Teresa Lambrianou, Kostas Mantzalos, Savvas Xinaris.

1. The awards will be presented by the Deputy Minister of Culture, Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou, at a special ceremony, which will take place on 5 December 2023, at 7:00 pm, at the Pallas Cinema Theatre. Admission will be free of charge.

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