The winners of the 2024 ACF awards. © Aéro Club de France
Of the 115 publications of works related to aeronautics recorded in 2023, a figure down significantly since they were 132 the previous year, 26 were selected by the Art and Letters commission of the institution then presented to the jury which ultimately selected 12 and which then awarded the following prizes:
3 Diplomas were awarded to
– Olivier Dauger for his album produced on the occasion of the anniversary of the Patrouille de France published by Paquet.
– Jean-Marie Nicolas for the history of the Dirigeable Dixmude (1920-1923), Cahier de l’Ardhan n°44. The author is the grandson of one of the officers who disappeared on board. The jury qualified the work as “accomplished work” which is often the case for the publications of Ardhan (Association for the research of documentation on the history of Naval Aeronautics).
– Michel Bénichou and the late Jacques Guillem for their “Hidden History of Aviation” in the Docavia collection (which is celebrating its 50th anniversary) at Casa édition. This history is the one that is hidden by the canvas or sheet metal of the aircraft covering and which explains how aeronautical technology has progressed over the decades, an original approach to the history of aviation, educational and erudite.
The jury benefited, for the first time, from the possibility of awarding a Favoritewhich tells the story of Max Hymans, re-founder of Air France after the war and which was the subject of a short biography by Thierry Pommier and Jean-Louis Laubry, self-published.
The Malfanti Prize was awarded to Stéphane Simmonet for the Épopée du Normandie-Niemen (a unit not yet well known… to the general public!) at Tallandier.
The Dollfus Prize rewards the formidable biography of the Belgian fighter pilot Jean de Selys Longchamps who became a national hero when in January 1943, on his own initiative, he went up Avenue Louise in Brussels with his Typhoon to deal with the siege of the Sipo- Local SD in its own way and with the 20 mm shell. A short, dense and adventurous life perfectly recounted by Marc Audrit in this work published by Weyrich.
The Aero Club de France Prize was awarded to the collective book “The Roaring Twenties of Aviation, 1919-1939” which is none other than the annotated catalog of the exhibition of the same name which was held at Air Museum between November 2023 and March 2024. The exhibition was fantastic, the book, published by Lienart, is the perfect reflection.
The ACF Literary Grand Prize was awarded to Rêves d’Icare by Gérard Guerrier published by Paulsen.
A book that also appealed to the editorial staff of Aerobuzz: Dreams of Icarus, pioneers and adventurers of non-motorized flight.
The decline in the number of French-speaking aeronautical publications is a clear trend. The reduction in print runs and the closure of prescribing points of sale are not helping either. However, the emergence of publishers adept at printing on demand and the proliferation of self-published works, and with more confidential distributions for sometimes extremely specialized subjects, means that French-speaking publications remain extremely rich.
However, these new trends in aeronautical publishing are difficult to reconcile with the requirements of a literary prize jury, particularly with regard to the number of works to be offered to allow a fair examination of the different works. Of the 12 works selected for the final selection, two publishers did not respond to the jury’s requests, which is not without consequences on the final prize list.
