The award is administered by the French-Hungarian cultural association Alcyon under the patronage of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Twenty out of 137 submissions received awards.
Martha Dufournaud, a teacher of Hungarian descent living in Paris, won the main prize along with 1,000 euros. The second prize went to Claire Hunyadi-Csoka, a French editor at Budapest's Corvinus University and the third prize to Eva Man, a teacher living in Gyor who heads the local organisation Alliance Francaise.
Instead of professional authors, the contest primarily targeted ordinary people with a talent for writing. Submissions were invited from France, Hungary, Britain, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria for unpublished works connected to Hungary.
"La Hongrie et moi" celebrated the 20th anniversary of Alcyon, an organisation of intellectuals, journalists, economists and politicians living in Paris who are of Hungarian descent or are interested in supporting Hungarian culture.
Alcyon plans to publish the award-winners' writings in a collection.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
