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The Ostana Prize – Writings in the Mother Tongue [in Italian: Ostana Premio Scritture in Lingua Madre], is an annual prize and cultural initiative organized by the Municipality of Ostana and by the Cultural Association Chambra d'Oc. It is dedicated to languages and to literary authors who use a "mother tongue", a present-day minority language of territorial belonging, in their works. The event began in 2008 and is held in Ostana, a municipality in the Valle Po (Italy), every year at the beginning of June. It is open to the public with free admission.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Categories of Ostana Prize

Every year, the Ostana Prize assigns prizes to authors selected all over the world according to different categories, some of which were added only in the recent editions: International Award, National Award, Award for the Occitan language, Young Writers Award, Special Award, Translation Award, Award for Musical Composition, Film Award.

For the International Award and the National Award the organizers select authors who have used in their works, in whole or in part, one of the minority languages recognized at national and international level.

Because of the geographical location of Ostana Prize in the Occitan Area (the municipality of Ostana is in fact part of the Occitan minority area in Italy) an author writing in the language is given a specific recognition.

The Special Award is conferred to an author who is particularly distinguished in the defence, promotion and dissemination of a minority language in danger of extinction.

The Translation Award is awarded to an author who has achieved distinction in the translation of writings to, or from, a minority language.

The Young Writers Award is given to an under-40 author who has achieved distinction in the field of literature and who is engaged in the promotion of his or her mother tongue.

In the 2016 edition, two awards to artistic career were added: The Award for Musical Composition which is awarded to an author who has been noteworthy in the field of composition in his or her native language, and The Film Award which is given to a filmmaker who made a cinematographic work in a minority language.

Duration of award ceremony

The Ostana Prize – Writings in Mother Tongue has a duration of three days during which the winning authors are invited by the organizers to reside in Ostana, in one of the existing facilities, and to take part in meetings, debates, video projections, readings in minority languages, musical and artistic performances, photographic exhibitions, etc.. On the last day of the event, the prizes to the individual authors are delivered.

The symbols of the Ostana Prize

The prize consists of: a glass sculpture, specially created by the Italian artist Silvio Vigliaturo with the illustration of a nightingale, symbol of Occitan culture (in reference to the song "Se chanta"), accompanied by a gold medal created by Marco Gioielli which represents the Occitan cross.

Objectives

The objectives of the Ostana Prize are:

celebrating and bringing together authors (writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers, translators) who contribute to the promotion of enduring and emerging languages with their work,
listening and making the public aware of the sound of endangered, yet eager-to-live, languages, in order to discover through these languages the histories and cultures of the people who speak them,
highlighting the value of multilingualism through the live testimonies of authors and artists from around the world.

The Writers

In the eight years of activity of the Award 48 writers have been invited; among those 8 were Occitan. The remaining 40 represented different languages.

The languages

The Ostana Prize has been awarded to representatives of minority languages such as: Friulian language, Slovene language, Cimbrian language, Ladin language, Armenian language, Sardinian language, Standard Tibetan, Basque language, Romani language, Totonacan languages, Catalan language, Huave language, Breton language, Sami languages, Hebrew language, Maltese language, Corsican language, Cheyenne language, Kurdish languages, Māori language, Galician language, Shuar language, Yoruba language, Frisian languages, Griko dialect e Occitan language.

Award winners

edition 1, year 2008

22–23 November

Max Roqueta language: Occitan, Special Award
Alfredo Conde language: Galician, International Award
Carlo Sgorlon language: Friulian, National Award

edition 2, year 2010

19–20 June

Gavino Ledda language: Sardinian, Special Award
Witi Ihimaera language: Māori, International Award
Boris Pahor language: Slovene, National Award
Ives Rouquette language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Constantino Canales language: Huave, Young Writers Award
Arturo Viano language: Occitan, Translation Award

edition 3, year 2011

3–5 June

Vincenzo Consolo language: Sicilian, Special Award
Harkaitz Cano language: Basque, International Award
Andrea Nicolussi Gold language: Cimbrian, National Award
Aurélia Lassaque language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Tuntiak Katan language: Shuar, Young Writers Award
Reuven Miran language: Hebrew, Translation Award

edition 4, year 2012

2–3 June

Sergio Salvi, writer, Special Award
Kerttu Vuolab language: Sami, International Award
Joseph Zoderer language: German, National Award
Sergi Bec language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Maite Brazales language: Catalan, Young Writers Award
Diegu Corràine language: Sardinian, Translation Award

edition 5, year 2013

1–2 June

Chenreb Gyamtso, known as Nodreng language: Tibetan, Special Award
Mehmet Altun language: Kurdish, International Award
Rut Bernardi language: Ladin, National Award
Joan Larzac language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Antony Heulin language: Breton, Young Writers Award
Francesco Ferrucci language: Catalan, Translation Award

edition 6, year 2014

31 May – 2 June

Marcel Courthiade language: Romani, Special Award
Lance David Henson language: Cheyenne, International Award
Franco Marchetta language: Friulian, National Award
Danielle Julien language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Arno Camenisch language: Romansh, Young Writers Award
Anthony Aquilina language: Maltese, Translation Award

edition 7, year 2015

30 May – 2 June^[5]

Jun Tiburcio Perez Gonzales (Jun Tiburcio) language: Totonacan, Special Award
Jacques Thiers language: Corsican, International Award
Antonia Arslan language: Armenian, National Award
James Thomas language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Niillas Holmberg language: Sami, Young Writers Award
Clive Boutle Translation Award

edition 8, year 2016

2–5 June

Kola Tubosun language: Yoruba, Special Award^[6]
María Clara Sharupi Jua language: Shuar, International Award
Salvatore Tommasi language: Griko, National Award
Joan Ganiayre language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Tsead Bruinja language: West Frisian, Young Writers Award
Lurdes Auzmendi language: Basque, Translation Award

Awards to artistic career

Rocco De Santis language: Griko, Award for Musical Composition
Renato Morelli Film Award

edition 9, year 2017

Salem Zenia language: Amazigh-Kabyle, Special Award
Joséphine Bacon language :Innu, International Award
Francesco Severini language: linguistic minorities of Italy, National Award
Roland Pecout language: Occitan, Award for the Occitan language
Erlend O. Nodtvedt language: Nynorsk, Giovani Award
Gwyn Griffiths language: Welsh, Translation Award

Awards to artistic career

Mans De Breish language: Award for Musical Composition in the Occitan language
Samir Aït Belkacem language: Kabyle, Film award

edition 10, year 2018

Bob Holman, a celebratory prize of the decennial
Juan Gregorio Regino [es], Special Award
Adil Olluri, International Award
Tatjana Rojc [it], Minority award for historical language of Italy.
Matieu Poitavin [oc], Occitan Language Award
Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Giovani Award
Aleksej Leontiev, Translation Award
Joan Isaac [ca], Prize for Musical Composition
Asier Altuna [eu], Cinema Award

edition 11, year 2019

Tilbert Dídac Stegmann, Special prize (Learning Romance, Slavic, Germanic languages through the EuroComRom method - The Seven Sieves - Germany)
Manuel Rivas, International award Galician language (Spain)
Anna Maria Bacher, Historical linguistic minorities prize in Italy Walser language (Italy)
Gérard Zuchetto [fr], Occitan language Award Occitan language (France)
Dariia "Neseni" Martynova, Youth Award Lingua even (Siberia, Russia)
Craig Patterson, Galician Language Translation Prize (Spain)
Franca Masu, Music composition award, Catalan language of Alghero (Italy)
Marcelo Martinessi, Cinema award, Guarani language (Paraguay)