VIDEO. The 37th Prix Goncourt awarded in Rennes to Sandrine Collette for “Madelaine avant l’aube”

There were only five novels left in the running, to win the 37th Goncourt prize for high school students, and succeed the author Neige Sinno and “Triste Tigre”, winner last year. This Thursday, November 28, 2024, the high school jury made up of 13 delegates (twelve girls and one boy) from all over France, and meeting behind closed doors at Rennes town hall since 9 a.m., rewarded Sandrine Collette for “Madelaine before dawn” (JC Lattès). The novel tells the story of an abandoned wild child who will upset a timeless village, eaten away by cold and hunger.

Created in 1988, at the initiative of Fnac and the Ministry of National Education, with the agreement of the Goncourt Academy and based on its selection, the Goncourt prize for high school students gives the opportunity to nearly 2,000 students to read and study works of contemporary literature. This jury comes from around fifty high school classes (second, first, final or BTS) from general and professional sectors.

The second best-selling literary prize in France, the Goncourt des lycéens is very popular with the general public.