The Inalco competition for multilingual short stories announces its winners

As part of the Languages in Dialogue initiative, which aims to promote the different varieties of French and multilingualism in the French-speaking world, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) has selected the Inalco Multilingual Short Story Competition in 2020.

The 2020 edition

Supported by the Licence + program, the 1st edition of this international competition, sponsored by Franco-Lebanese novelist Yasmine Khlat and Quebec writer, poet and screenwriter Jean-Simon DesRochers, was held from June 28 to September 1, 2020, open to all French-speaking students enrolled in a university establishment for the 2019-2020 academic year in France, the French-speaking world and beyond.

The jury, made up of Inalco members with diverse profiles (administrative staff, researchers, students, teachers...) and external members from France and abroad, evaluated the short stories.

In a few figures... The 2020 edition counted 509 entries and 99 short stories received! Through these short stories, 12 countries and no less than 100 languages were represented.

The prize list

Three grand prizes were awarded: the 1st, worth €500, the 2nd €200 and the 3rd €100.
In addition, the first twelve winners had their short stories published alongside two original short stories by sponsors Yasmine Khlat and Jean-Simon DesRochers in the collective work Langues en dialogue(s) (Editions Tangentielles).
Finally, the authors of the first 20 winning short stories were invited to take part in a writing workshop with the competition sponsors.

1st prize: Kyrie Eleison, Valérie ROUMELIOTIS-OTTAVY
2nd prize: L'accent, Jean-Yves PELISSON
3rd prize: Jnawhi, Samia HANACHI

Special mention from the Patrons: A Babil, Nicolas PAYEN

In addition to the texts of the prizewinners, the following short stories can be found in the collective work Langues en dialogue(s) (Editions Tangentielles):

Babel, Eveline SU
Bifurcation, Celia HOSSTETTER
Chaque jour est une vie, Alondra
Fleurs de nostalgie, Paolo FALCONE
La Belle province, Mario GHEZA
La sondité, Renaud DESCAMPS
Les mots déraillés, Werner GABOREAU
Oridjinns, Najat SGHYAR

La cérémonie de remise des prix

The awards ceremony accompanied by a reading-performance of the winning short stories took place on June 14, 2021 at the Maison de la Poésie as part of the Ecrire en langues: litterature, traduction, enseignement symposium. Find here a selection of photos taken during the event.

See the Inalco Multilingual Short Story Contest 2020 Awards Ceremony on Monday, May 14, 2021

The 2021 edition is open

The Inalco Plurilingual Short Story Competition 2021 is honored with a very fine double sponsorship with the participation of two French-speaking writers, Carole Martinez and Jean-Luc Raharimanana. "Languages in Danger" will be the theme of this second edition, which introduces a new prize for digital works. French-speaking students from around the world wishing to take part must submit their short stories by August 23, 2021.