Year 3 of VHL Award for the Best Student Essay has just started!
August 29, 2011
One of the pivotal genres of Václav Havel's work is the genre of the essay – on literary, art, social, political, as well as spiritual themes. Václav Havel's essays, such as The Power of the Powerless and A Word about Words, became the classic texts of Czech literature; they were translated into dozens of languages and belong to the few world-renowned works of Czech culture. This is also why it is necessary to keep the genre of the essay in the Czech language – not in the meaning of imitating Václav Havel's writing but in the meaning of Havel-type courage to name unpleasant problems and to seek their unconventional solution.
Therefore, Václav Havel Library announces the 3rd year of the literary competition for secondary school students. The theme of this year's Václav Havel Library Award is: Freedom of speech and modern communication technologies – two sides of one coin?
Please send your texts, written in the Czech language in the extent of up to 18,000 characters (ten standard pages), completed with the author's name, date of birth, and the name of the secondary school, to the e-mail address info@vaclavhavel-library.org on or before 16th October 2011.
A jury composed of Czech cultural personalities close to Havel will evaluate the submitted essays. The first prize is 15,000 CZK, the second prize is 10,000 CZK and the third prize is 5,000 CZK. The results of the competition will be announced and the prizes awarded in December 2011 in the premises of the Václav Havel Library in Montmartre Gallery, 7 Řetězová Street, Prague 1 – Old Town.