Diavazo short list announced
Spring is the season for literary prizes. The latest to announce its short list is Diavazo magazine. «We’re happy to be offering the prizes, an institution established around 10 years ago by the late editor Iraklis Papalexis,» Diavazo’s editor Yiannis Baskozos told a press conference yesterday at the Ianos bookstore. The two prize juries have whittled down a vast pile of books to almost 60 candidates. For the first time, their votes will be by secret ballot, opened just before the award ceremony. Baskozos said he thought it was the most democratic method and protected the jury members from pressure and accusations of improper dealings. Diavazo is offering prizes – a wooden sculpture by Thanassis Diamantopoulou and 2,500 euros in each of the following categories: poetry, essay, short story, novel, writer published for the first time (in memory of Papalexis), illustrated children’s literature and literature for older children. There are two new prizes: The Diavazo editorial team is offering a prize for a long-term contribution to the book industry, in memory of the late Periklis Athanassopoulou, the founder of Diavazo. The other new prize is a bonus offered to each winner who has signed up with OSDEL, an organization that collects copyright payments for authors and publishers. «We think writers deserve support,» explained OSDEL President Dimitris Panteleskos. «We’ve noticed that publishers collect about 65-70 percent of what is owed to them but that writers collect only 25 percent.» The other prizes are sponsored by EFG Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, OSE, Nissan Theoharakis, Gant Thornton and the National Book Center.
