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Jocs Florals 2014

Aspirants to the Jocs Florals Awards, which this year include a Special 1714 Award, may present their works up until the 5th of March

As with every year, Barcelona will celebrate its traditional Jocs Florals (Floral Games) poetry contest, a first-order literary competition with origins in the fourteenth century and which was reinstated during the Catalan Renaixença in 1859 thanks to the efforts of Antoni Bofarull and Victor Balaguer.

Over the years the contest has become an essential mechanism for the establishment of a literary canon of modern and contemporary poetry, and its colourful history, which includes a fruitful period of exile to Europe and North America from 1940 to 1970, has made a decisive contribution to the dissemination of the enjoyment of poetry among readers.

In 2006, the three traditional Jocs Florals awards were combined into one single prize of nine thousand euros and publication of the prize-winning piece by Labreu Editorial, thereby providing an even greater stimulus for poetic creativity and increasing the prestige afforded by the jury’s final decision on the artistic merits of the entries. This year’s jury is presided over by Francesc Parcerisas, with Antoni Vidal Ferrando, Josep Piera, Simona Škrabec and Marc Romera as members. Subject matter is open and entries may be presented up until the 5th of March.

In celebration of the tercentenary, this year’s prizes include a Special 1714 Memorial Award of one thousand five hundred euros which will be presented to the best ode, not exceeding one hundred verses, to Barcelona or Catalonia. The awards ceremony will take place in the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council during the month of May in order to coincide with Barcelona Poetry Week.

Publication date: Friday, 24 January 2014
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