A day of victory
On Thursday afternoon, 29 May, our library was almost bursting at the seams. We held a Day for the Brothers Grimm, attended by more than a hundred contestants together with their loved ones. Everyone was eager to learn who had won prizes in our literary and art competition U všech Grimmů!, which we organised with generous support from Bohemik.
The audience was treated to a delightful surprise right at the beginning: children from Class 1.B at Komenského Primary School - also known as the “old” school - performed a short production called POPletené POHÁDKY under the direction of their teacher, Ms Petrásková. Their parents came to watch as well, and we discovered that if people are willing to squeeze together, both they and another fifty guests can fit into our library. It was obvious to every visitor, however, that a larger venue would be needed.
The programme was hosted by the girls’ duo Valinka and Verunka, who sang beautifully and played the ukulele. The prizes were presented by library director Mgr. Kateřina Pechová together with the chair of the jury, writer Ester Stará.
Where did the competition entries come from?
For this year’s fifteenth edition of the competition, we received 153 entries from 250 authors. Most were submitted by primary schools, primary art schools, secondary schools, and reading or literary clubs. Roughly two thirds of the participants were girls and women. A remarkably large number of entries were of a very high standard, so in the end we presented more awards than originally planned.
What did we receive?
In the literary section, we selected from the work of 68 authors: 28 individual entries and two anthologies. The writers included 39 children aged 8–14, 26 young people aged 16–20, and only three authors aged 36–69.
The art section included four children aged 4–6, 157 children aged 7–14, 23 teenagers aged 15–17 and one adult. We judged 125 artworks by 116 individual authors and nine groups - 185 creators in total. Altogether, we received 80 drawings; seven books, including one embroidered and one three-dimensional book; ten three-dimensional pictures; a set of wooden figures; thirteen ceramic sculptures and three ceramic sets; one felt and one paper sculpture; six mixed-media sculptures; one set of Lego sculptures, submitted as a photograph only; one giant theatre programme; and two videos.
The entries can be seen in an exhibition at the library until the end of September. The award-winning works in both categories are also available on the library’s website, together with a complete list of prizewinners. Here, we name only those who reached the top places.
Who are the stars, and what did we give them?
The overall winners were ten-year-old Metoděj Kubita from Prague for his original video Janinka a Mariánek, and thirteen-year-old Magdaléna Vernerová from Prague for her short humorous story Já že jim děti?. Each received a cash prize of CZK 3,000.
Second prizes in the literary category went to Albert Schich, 13, from the 2nd Primary School in Dobříš and Jana Dora Smolíková, 14, from Rosovice. In the art category, they went to seven-year-old Miriam Hašková from Dobříš and thirteen-year-old Alma Vančátová from Zvírotice. Each prizewinner received CZK 2,000.
Three third prizes were awarded in each category. For art, they went to Marie Vandasová, 16, from Dobříš; Nina Formánková, 9; and Evelína Žandová, 14. The latter two works were created in Ms Mauleová’s ceramics club at the 28th Primary School in Plzeň. Literary third prizes went to Rebecca Steinerová, 13, from Prague; Klára Olivová, 18, from Svatý Jiří; and Karolína Pacáková, 20, from Prague.
We also awarded four special prizes: to Laďa Palasová, 12, from Dobříš; a group of seven first-year pupils from the second after-school group at the 2nd Primary School in Dobříš, led by Ms Vozková Venderová; a seven-member group from the ceramics club at the Dobříš Primary Art School, led by Ms Veronika Guttenbergová; and Class 5.A from Komenského Primary School in Dobříš, led by Ms Jana Universalová.
The third prizes and special prizes were worth CZK 1,000. Every award recipient also received two volumes of the comic-book series Pověsti z Dobříšska.
And what comes next?
Once again, our warmest congratulations to all the winners! We are already looking forward to seeing how children and adults surprise us next year. The theme of the next edition of our literary and art competition will be announced in the February issue of Dobříšské listy and at www.knihovnadobris.cz.