The Ostana Prize – Writings in the Mother Tongue [in Italian: Ostana Premio Scritture in Lingua Madre], is an annual prize and cultural initiative organized by the Municipality of Ostana and by the Cultural Association Chambra d'Oc. It is dedicated to languages and to literary authors who use a "mother tongue", a present-day minority language of territorial belonging, in their works. The event began in 2008 and is held in Ostana, a municipality in the Valle Po (Italy), every year at the beginning of June. It is open to the public with free admission.[1][2][3][4]
Categories of Ostana Prize
Every year, the Ostana Prize assigns prizes to authors selected all over the world according to different categories, some of which were added only in the recent editions: International Award, National Award, Award for the Occitan language, Young Writers Award, Special Award, Translation Award, Award for Musical Composition, Film Award.
For the International Award and the National Award the organizers select authors who have used in their works, in whole or in part, one of the minority languages recognized at national and international level.
Because of the geographical location of Ostana Prize in the Occitan Area (the municipality of Ostana is in fact part of the Occitan minority area in Italy) an author writing in the language is given a specific recognition.
The Special Award is conferred to an author who is particularly distinguished in the defence, promotion and dissemination of a minority language in danger of extinction.
The Translation Award is awarded to an author who has achieved distinction in the translation of writings to, or from, a minority language.
The Young Writers Award is given to an under-40 author who has achieved distinction in the field of literature and who is engaged in the promotion of his or her mother tongue.
In the 2016 edition, two awards to artistic career were added: The Award for Musical Composition which is awarded to an author who has been noteworthy in the field of composition in his or her native language, and The Film Award which is given to a filmmaker who made a cinematographic work in a minority language.
Duration of award ceremony
The Ostana Prize – Writings in Mother Tongue has a duration of three days during which the winning authors are invited by the organizers to reside in Ostana, in one of the existing facilities, and to take part in meetings, debates, video projections, readings in minority languages, musical and artistic performances, photographic exhibitions, etc.. On the last day of the event, the prizes to the individual authors are delivered.
The symbols of the Ostana Prize
The Ostana Prize, a glass sculpture representing the nightingale, symbol of Occitania, and a gold medal with the Occitan cross, created by Silvio Vigliaturo, contemporary Italian artist and glass sculptor.
The prize consists of: a glass sculpture, specially created by the Italian artist Silvio Vigliaturo with the illustration of a nightingale, symbol of Occitan culture (in reference to the song "Se chanta"), accompanied by a gold medal created by Marco Gioielli which represents the Occitan cross.
Objectives
The objectives of the Ostana Prize are:
celebrating and bringing together authors (writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers, translators) who contribute to the promotion of enduring and emerging languages with their work,
listening and making the public aware of the sound of endangered, yet eager-to-live, languages, in order to discover through these languages the histories and cultures of the people who speak them,
highlighting the value of multilingualism through the live testimonies of authors and artists from around the world.
The Writers
In the eight years of activity of the Award 48 writers have been invited; among those 8 were Occitan. The remaining 40 represented different languages.
