A secret, eight-member jury was given the task of picking the best five works from ones by 25 authors. The jury members were unaware of each other in order to keep those working in the publishing profession from influencing those who don't. Three of the five books picked by the jury were then shortlisted by a curatorium of Zoltán Sumonyi, the writer and deputy managing director of the Hungarian P.E.N. Club; György Gömöri, the Hungarian poet who teaches at Cambridge; and the literary historian Mihály Ilia.
The Rotary Club sees the prize as part of its fight against illiteracy, said the clubs director in Hungary Miklós Cseri. It is Rotary's task to use its name to raise the profile of Hungarian literature, he added.
Attila Balázs
was nominated for a historical novel about Vojvodina, the area in Serbia where the author was born. László Darvasi is being considered for a novel that looks at every-day life during the 1848-49 war for independence. Ildikó Boldizsár is vying for the prize with a richly illustrated fairy tale about the princess in all little girls.
The prize-winner will be announced on October 9 at a gala event to be televised by public broadcaster Duna Television.
Author: Éva Kelemen / Photo: Dániel Kováts
