The prize includes €3.000 and focuses on the figure of the writer from Mequinenza and his world: language, history, traditions, notable figures, and mining. The deadline for submissions is September 30.
The Mequinenza Town Council has published the rules for the 2024 "Jesús Moncada" Research Prize. The deadline for submitting original works is Monday, September 30th, and the award ceremony will take place on a date yet to be determined, around December 1st, coinciding with the anniversary of the birth of the Mequinenza-born writer, author of works such as "Camí de Sirga" (1988) and "Estremida memòria" (1997), among others.
As in previous editions, as established by the terms of the call for entries, which can be consulted on the website of the Mequinenza City Council or in the National Database of Subsidies, the works may be about the figure of the author from Mequinenza or about the universe he portrayed in his works, that is, issues related to history, language, mining, traditions, people of interest or navigation in the town, for example.
This award, which includes a cash prize of 3.000 euros and the publication of the winning work, aims to "support the enhancement of culture and history as a tool for research, development and innovation through interdisciplinary work and in the belief that any society that wants to advance must look to its past, become aware of its present and project itself towards the future" to position Mequinenza as "a leading cultural epicenter".
Entries must be original and unpublished, and must not have been previously awarded a prize or submitted to any other competition. They may be written in Catalan or Spanish and must not exceed 300 pages, single-sided. Submissions must be presented under a motto and pseudonym, along with a hard copy and a digital copy. A jury will select the winning entry based on the established evaluation criteria.
The decision and notification period will be six months from the end of the application submission period. The rights to the first edition, in any format, of the winning work are expressly assigned to the Mequinenza City Council or to whomever it designates. The author(s) must be present at the award ceremony and at the public presentation of the winning research work at an open event on a date to be mutually agreed upon.
The first Jesús Moncada Research Prize went “ex aequo” to Laura Farré Badía, with “L'estil literari de Jesús Moncada a 'Estremida memòria': entre el català normatiu i la llengua de Mequinensa”, and Artur García Fuster, with “Memoria, oralitat i ironia a la narrative de Jesús Moncada”. In the second edition, Laura Farré repeated as the winner with “Non-verbal communication to 'Estremida memoria' by Jesús Moncada” and in 2020 Jaime Arbiol Agné was the winner with “Mequinensa 1808-1898: 90 anys del segle XIX”. The 2021 edition was declared void by the Jury, while in 2022 the prize went to the Hungarian Krisztina Nemes for “Història i memòria al mite de Mequinensa. La història escrita a la novel·la de 'Cami de sirga' de Jesús Moncada”. The sixth edition, last year's, was also left void after the Jury's deliberation.
