Literary awards
 This is the Literary Month in Sri Lanka, and the Literary Awards are
on the cards. The month began with the 'Vidudaya Awards', organized by
the Sri Jayawardenapura University, on the 1st day of September. The
month ends with the State Literary Awards scheduled for the last day of
the month.
There is no prize money awarded at Vidudaya, unlike the Swarna
Pusthaka which gives away the highest cash gift awarded to a novel in
Sri Lanka. Vidudaya Award is by the University of Sri Jayawardenapura,
and is the only Literary Award by a university in Sri Lanka even though
we have 15 State Universities. It is the brain-child of Prof. Sunil
Ariyaratne, and the first award was given in the year 2000. There had
been an interruption after 2002, and the award was revived again in
2009.
Vidudaya awards are for the Best Novel, Best Short Story collection,
the best poetry and best Lyrics, and of special significance is the
award for the publication of a newspaper columnist. The Swarna Pusthaka
is for the Best Novel only.
Though both awards are judged by academics and professionals in the
literary and other fields of art, Swarna Pusthaka is organized by the
Sri Lanka Book Publishers' Association, who also have a commercial
interest, as the award winning novel becomes an invariable bestseller,
if it had not already reached that status. Thus some writers and readers
could value the Vidudaya Award more, while others would value the cash
award more in a culture where making a living from writing is so
difficult.
 |
|
Swarna
Pustaka awards festival. Picture by Nissanka Wijerathne |
 |
|
Vidyodaya
awards festival. Picture by Sulochana Gamage |
At Vidudaya the winners receive the awards from the hands of third
year university students, while the Swarna Pusthaka Award 2011 was given
away by Malini Fonseka, the internationally acclaimed film star and
parliamentarian.
When the Swarna Pusthaka Awards began in 2006, there was much
criticism against awarding a half a million rupees for a novel, and
probably led to the decision not to nominate a winner in 2006. The
criticism continues, but from 2007 the judges selected the best out of
the five which were shortlisted, which they could have easily done even
in the previous year. Yet when compared with prizes awarded in other
countries, this amount is negligible. The highest prize for a writer is
awarded by the Nobel Committee, which is about US$ 1.5 million (Rs. 150
million).
The Man Booker is $ 82,000 (Rs. 8 million). Even the Nigerian
Literary prize is $ 100,000 (Rs 10 million).
It is difficult to understand why a few people should grudge this Rs
500,000 awarded to a writer in recognition of his book, and Rs 50,000
each for the five better books, out of 12 good books. What we should
strive for is to get such awards for the best drama, the best film, and
other literary creations.
The highlight of the Vidudaya Awards was that a member of each award
committee explained their reasons for their choice, giving details of
the books they had considered. Though the award winners had not been
announced beforehand, and was to be announced only after the evaluation
comments, it appeared that the winners had been informed prior to the
event. This is really a good decision, and it would have been still
better if all the short-listed writers too had been informed, instead of
keeping them in suspense till the last minute.
It is not a lottery, a game of chance, or a kids' game, to keep this
announcement a secret, in a country where nothing is secret.
The Swarna Pusthaka takes a different approach. They have a team of
10 panelists who pick the long list of 12 books, which are in turn
evaluated by a second panel of five, who make the short list of five
books. Out of the five, the Golden Book is picked by the supreme panel
of five.
The names of all the panelists are announced beforehand. This is
perhaps the most transparent process to make a literary award in our
country, unlike several other awards, both for Sinhala and English
books, where the award winner could be easily predicted when the names
of the judges are announced.
This transparent process would have been still better if the judges
had announced the reasons for their decision.
The Swarna Pusthaka also brings a harmony and camaraderie among the
writers, as we could easily see after the award was announced. Most
writers, like all other artistes, are sensitive, empathic creatures, who
write because they enjoy writing, because they want to share their
imagination with their readers. No creative writer would write a novel
with the sole aim of winning an award, however attractive the financial
incentive is, or the publicity gained through it.
We still hear comments that some writers keep on writing a novel a
year with the Awards in mind. Some writers have the skill to produce a
novel in a few weeks, while others would take several months. It also
depends on the kind of story one is writing, the background material
required and also the way one writes. Even if anyone writes with the
Awards in mind, it would only have a positive outcome, because the
writer would try to bring out the best possible work, and take pains to
do it.
Let there be more books, more good books, more book awards and may
our children learn to spend more time with good books.
[email protected]
|
