The most prestigious literary prize in the publishing world, the Goncourt was awarded this year to Kamel Daoud for “Houris”. And as tradition dictates, the winner received a check for 10 euros.
While the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded the tidy sum of around 900,000 euros, the endowment of a Goncourt Prize is well below the eternal recognition that is the Nobel Prize.
Thus, the winner only wins a tiny check for 10 euros, a symbolic prize because Goncourt sells enormously in France and translations abroad become assured. On average, a “Goncourt” sells 400,000 copies.
Drastic award conditions
Created in 1903, the Prix Goncourt is made up of ten members and delivers its verdict each year at the Drouant restaurant after three selections: a first of fifteen names, then eight, then four. To participate, the work must be a novel written in French and published by a French-speaking publisher with a distribution network in bookstores.
The vote is oral and during the first ten rounds the prize can only be awarded by an absolute majority. From the eleventh to the thirteenth round, the relative majority is sufficient. In the event of a tie, the president’s vote counts double in the fourteenth round.
The prize can only be awarded once to the same writer. A single exception: Romain Gary, Goncourt 1956, who received it a second time, in 1975, when he wrote under the pseudonym Emile Ajar.
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