Sandrine Collette crowned for her rural novel Madelaine Before Dawn

Sandrine Collette won the 2024 Goncourt des lycéens for Madelaine avant l’aube (published by JC Lattès), elected by young readers from the same selection as that of the Académie Goncourt.

The Goncourt of high school students 2024 crowned, Thursday November 28 in Rennes, Sandrine Collette for her novel Madelaine before dawn. This prize, often considered the “little brother” of Goncourt, was awarded, as every year, by a jury of 13 high school students selected from some 2,000 participants across France. This dark peasant chronicle, centered on the interruption of a mysterious wild child in an austere countryside, follows the tale of incest sad tiger by Neige Sinno, awarded last year. “It’s an immense joy, even if words fail me today“, declared the author when announcing the prize, before its official presentation in the evening to the Ministry of National Education.

Anchored in a harsh rural universe and frozen by centuries-old traditions, Madelaine before dawn explores social dynamics through the appearance of a little girl who upsets the balance of things. This novel marks a return to the “earth novel”, where the landscapes and constraints of everyday life become characters in their own right. Sandrine Collette, who has already received the Renaudot prize for high school students and the Giono prize in 2022 for We were wolvessigns here his eleventh book.

Nearly forty years of awards

The Goncourt des lycéens, created in 1988 at the initiative of Fnac and the Ministry of National Education, is the second best-selling literary prize in France. This distinction allows thousands of students, from second grade to BTS, to immerse themselves in contemporary literature. “This year again, nearly 2,000 students participated in the selection, encouraging them to read. Thank you to these high school students for celebrating literature with such sensitivity and commitment“, greeted Rachida Dati, the Minister of Culture on the social network

The finalists of this edition also included Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam (The Lost Children’s Club), Abdellah Taïa (The Bastion of Tears), Thibault de Montaigu (Heart), and Olivier Norek (Winter Warriors).