The Golden Comar Prize 2018: A Report by Ali Znaidi
The Golden Comar Prize was created in 1997 by the insurance company (Compagnie Méditerranéenne d’assurances et de Réassurances) Comar (Tunisie) by Rachid Ben Jemia to support literary creation, and encourage Tunisian writers, especially novelists.
The 22nd edition of the Golden Comar Prize was held on April 28, 2018 at the Municipal Theatre of Tunis (Théâtre Municipal de Tunis). The ceremony was attended by a number of intellectual, cultural, media and artistic figures as well as the Director of the Office of the Minister of the Cultural Affairs Amal Hachana on behalf of Minister Mohamed Zine El-Abidine.
The Arabic version of the prize was awarded to Khairia Boubtane for her novel (Ibnatou El Jaheem) The Daughter of Hell.
The French version of the prize was awarded to Ali Bécheur for his novel (Les Lendemains d’hier) The Tomorrows of Yesterday.
The other prizes went as follows:
*Arabic language prizes:
-The Jury Special Prize was awarded to Ines Al Abbasi for her novel (Menzel Bourguiba) Menzel Bourguiba.
-Discovery Prize was awarded to Safia Gam Ben Abdeljelil for her novel (Layta Chahdan…!) If only Chahd…!.
*French language prizes:
-The Jury Special Prize was awarded to Ridha Ben Hamouda for his novel (La Marmite d’Ayoub) Ayoub’s Cooking-pot.
-Discovery Prize was not awarded this year.
Khairia Boubtane Receiving Her Golden Comar Prize. Photo Credit Radio Tunisie Culture (or simply Radio Culturelle). http://www.radioculturelle.tn/%D8%AA%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%AC-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%86/
Extracts from the awarding ceremony. Video Credit SHEMS FM 28/04/2018.
The Golden Comar Prize 2018-List of Competing Novels. Photo Credit. http://www.comar-d-or.tn/Fra/image.php?id=98
Around 33 novels in Arabic and 12 novels in French competed for the afore-mentioned prizes.
As far as the judging panel of this 22nd edition is concerned, the Arabic section includes Ridha Kefi, Mohamed Mahjoub, Moncef Louhaibi, Neziha Khlifi, and Massouda Ben Boubaker, and the French section includes Samir Marzouki, Anouar Attia, Kamel Ben Ouanès, Ahlem Ghayeza, and Meriem Belkadhi.
- Congratulations to all the winners! §
