International Awards
Urania Award
The Urania Award for Best Italian Science Fiction Novel of 1998 went to Ai margini del caos (At the Edge of Chaos) by Franco Ricciardiello. The award is sponsored by the Italian publishing house, Mondadori, and will be officially presented on November 27th at Mondadori Bookshop in Genoa, and during AltroCon '98, a convention in Turin on December 12th. The winning novel is being published this month by Urania paperbacks in Italy.
Jules Verne Award
The Jules Verne Award for the best science fiction novelette written in Catalan in 1998 went to "Testimoni de Narom", by Miquel Barcelo and Pedro Jorge Romero. The announcement was made Thursday, November 12th, in Arinsal (Andorra) during the "Literary Night of Andorra", with the presence of the "conseller en cap", the head of the Andorran government. The award, sponsored by the "Cercle de les Arts i de les Lletres" (Art and Literary Centre) in Andorra, is worth 600,000 pesetas (about US$4,000). Further information, and photos, at http://www.filnet.es/bemmag/verne98.htm.
Prix Tour Eiffel
Results of the Prix Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower Award) were announced Tuesday, November 10th at the Eiffel Tower (where else?). Valerio Evangelisti won the Best Novel Award for his two books Nicholas Eymerich, Inquisiteur and Les Chaînes d'Eymerich. Roland C. Wagner won the Best Short Story Award for "Fragment du livre de la mer" ("Pages from the Book of the Sea").
Novelist Evangelisti won the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for the same works a few weeks before (see story last month). Unlike the novel category, the short story award is given to an unpublished work, which is then featured in Paris Le Journal, a free monthly magazine with a print run of one million copies.
The award ceremony will take place next year at the "Furet du Nord" bookstore, in Lille, one of the Award's sponsors. The novel prize is a check of 100,000 French Francs (about US$19,000); the short story winner receives 50,000 Francs (about US$9,500).
Domingo Santos Prize
Winners of the 1998 Domingo Santos Short Story Prize were announced on Sunday, October 11th, at Burjassot '98, Spain's annual national Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. The contest was open to unpublished short stories written in Spanish or English.
1st Place
"Palabras de silencio" {"Words of Silence") by Alejandro Vidal
2nd Place
"Ragnarok en las playas de Itaca" ("Ragnarok on the Beaches of Ithaca") by Rafael Marín
3rd Place
"Los caminantes" ("The Hikers") by Uribe Jorgebloed
4th Place
"Soldiers Dream" by James Stevens-Arce
The first three prizes included cash awards of 250,000 pesetas (about US$1760), 125,000 pesetas, and 75,000 pesetas respectively. Stevens-Arce's award is his second in a Spanish literary competition in the past year; he tied with Robert J. Sawyer last December for the UPC Science Fiction Award.
(Tue 24 Nov 1998)
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