Changes to the Nit de les Lletres Catalanes: what are the new awards and how is the endowment of some prizes increasing

BarcelonaThe celebration of the second Night of Catalan Letters will present relevant novelties. The event, led by Òmnium Cultural and the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC), will repeat its venue, the Oval Hall of the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), but will be brought forward by almost a month —moving from March 15th to February 20th, to distance itself as much as possible from Sant Jordi—, will incorporate two awards, and will increase the funding for several historical prizes.

"It will be a night in which a total of 192,000 euros will be distributed," announced the president of Òmnium Cultural, Xavier Antich, this Friday, accompanied by the president of the IEC, Teresa Cabré. "Since we are aware that translations of works from Catalan into other languages are very important for our culture to reach the whole world, we have incorporated the Ramon Llull Foundation Award for the Best Translation of Catalan Literature, endowed with 4,000 euros, which until now was presented in Andorra," explained Cabré. "From the IEC, we have promoted a new thought prize, endowed with 15,000 euros, which will recognize a work originally written in Catalan during the previous year and which presents critical thinking, an original and new idea, fresh air, and a forward-looking vision. The work can be an essay, but also a play or fiction in another format, aimed at a large and cultured audience, which meets the aforementioned requirements."

During the gala, which will be broadcast again via 3Cat, and which this year will be directed by Marc Rosich, a total of 14 awards will be announced, among which is the Sant Jordi prize, "the best endowed for an unpublished work written in Catalan," as recalled by Antich. The increase from 60,000 to 75,000 euros for the Sant Jordi during the previous edition has led to a rethinking of the funding for other historical awards. The Rodoreda prize for short stories will go from 6,000 to 9,000 euros this year. The Carles Riba prize for poetry, from 5,000 to 6,000 euros. The Joaquim Ruyra prize for young adult novels, from 6,000 to 8,000 euros. The Folch i Torres, the oldest award for children's literature in Catalan, from 4,000 to 6,000 euros.

During the Night of Catalan Letters, other awards will also be announced that will not change their prize money, for the moment: the Òmnium award for the best Catalan novel of the year (25,000 euros), the Àngel Guimerà award for dramatic literature (15,000 euros), the Lo Somni award for new authors (10,000 euros), the Montserrat Franquesa award for translation (4,000 euros), and the Vinyeta-Ficomic award (2,000 euros). "We want the Night of Catalan Letters to serve to discover new talents, to further prestige our language, and to reach more people than ever," assured Xavier Antich.