In addition to the best contemporary Hungarian and foreign novel, the best children’s book and the best youth and young adult book were awarded, the audience prize was presented and, for the first time this year, a first-time female author was also recognised as a special winner of the Nők Lapja Prize.
The House of Traditions hosted the Nők Lapja Literary Award Gala on Wednesday evening, hosted by Kata Jaksity, with surprise performances by Petra Gubik, Miklós Vecsei H. and Krisztián Grecsó, and a discussion on the joy of reading with Dóra Szinetár and Anna Juhász. In addition to representatives of the book industry and cultural life, this year for the first time readers were also able to participate in the event, celebrating the 75th birthday of the Nők Lapja brand.
The Best Contemporary Hungarian Novel award went to János Háy’s novel Boldog boldogtalan and Európa Publishing House. The best contemporary foreign novel was awarded to Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s Your Loneliness is Darkness and Jelenkor Publishing House, with Veronika Egyed as translator. The best children’s book was Anna T. Szabó’s Dudorászó published by Magvető, while the best youth and young adult book was awarded to Fanni Balássy and her book Bocs, hogy élek published by Tilos az Á Könyvek. The readers of Nők Lapja voted Judit Szlavicsek and Libri Kiadó the Audience Award for their novel Halál Tihanyban while the magazine’s special prize for the best first female author went to Helga Bereczki-Csák for Utolsó utca, utolsó ház.
The books were judged in two rounds by a panel of judges from a broad list of categories drawn up by the magazine’s editorial team: first by a larger panel of publishing industry representatives, and then by a smaller panel of well-known literary figures and other professionals, who selected the book of the year in each category. In the Hungarian contemporary fiction category, the jury consisted of Éva Akovács, editor-in-chief of Nők Lapja, Anna Juhász, literary critic and Dr László Mérő, mathematician, psychologist and teacher; in the foreign contemporary fiction category, the jury consisted of Ágota Ribánszky, editor-in-chief of NőkLapja.hu, Dóra Szinetár, actor and Péter Szűcs, writer and journalist. The children’s books were judged by journalist Juli Lami, clinical child and youth psychologist Andrea Bojti and Gábor Buda, musician of the Alma Együttes while the finalists in the youth and young adult books category were journalist Rita Jónap, vlogger Edmond Bognár, founder of Edmond Könyvkuckója and Luca Nyáry, journalist, writer and model.
The fourth edition of the Nők Lapja bookazine, The 100 Best Books, was also presented at the awards ceremony. The list is a selection of first editions published in the year following the June 2023 Book Week.
