The Ostana Prize – Writings in the Mother Tongue n Italian: Ostana Premio Scritture in Lingua Madre is an annual prize and cultural initiative organized by the Municipality of

Ostana Ostana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo. Its population has been in decline and in January 2016 it recorded its first birth sin ...

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

, a municipality in the

Valle Po The Valle Po (literally "Po valley") is a valley of the Cottian Alps in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont, northern Italy. Geography The valley gives rise to the longest river in Italy, the Po, before it enters the Pianura Padana (or Plain of ...

(Italy), every year at the beginning of June. It is open to the public with free admission.

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 Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

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 defense, 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 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... The last day of the event the prizes to the individual authors are delivered.

The symbols of Ostana Prize

The prize consists of: a glass sculpture, specially created by the Italian artist

Silvio Vigliaturo Silvio Vigliaturo (born in Acri, Cosenza, in 1949) is an Italian artist. When still a child he moved to Chieri (Turin), where presently he lives and works. He is a glassfusion maestro and his technique is appreciated internationally and considere ...

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 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 make 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 testimony 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 Friulian ( ) or Friulan (natively or ; it, friulano; de-AT, Furlanisch; sl, furlanščina) is a Romance language belonging to the Rhaeto-Romance family, spoken in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy. Friulian has around 600,000 speakers, ...

Slovene language Slovene ( or ), or alternatively Slovenian (; or ), is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic language, a sub-branch that is part of the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family ...

Cimbrian language Cimbrian ( cim, zimbar, links=no, ; german: Zimbrisch; it, cimbro) refers to any of several local Upper German varieties spoken in northeastern Italy. The speakers of the language are known as ''Zimbern'' in German. Cimbrian is a Germanic l ...

Ladin language Ladin (, also ; autonym: , it, ladino; german: Ladinisch) is a Romance language of the Rhaeto-Romance subgroup, mainly spoken in the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy in the provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino, and Belluno, by the Lad ...

Armenian language Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken t ...

Sardinian language Sardinian or Sard ( , or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken by the Sardinians on the Western Mediterranean island of Sardinia. Many Romance linguists consider it the language that is closest to Latin among all its genealogica ...

Standard Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan (), or Standard Tibetan, is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branch ...

, Basque language,

Romani language Romani (; also Romany, Romanes , Roma; rom, rromani ćhib, links=no) is an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities. According to '' Ethnologue'', seven varieties of Romani are divergent enough to be considered languages of their ...

Totonacan languages The Totonacan languages (also known as Totonac–Tepehua languages) are a Language families, family of closely related languages spoken by approximately 290,000 Totonac (approx. 280,000) and Tepehua people, Tepehua (approx. 10,000) people in the ...

Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spa ...

Huave language Huave (also spelled Wabe) is a language isolate spoken by the indigenous Huave people on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The language is spoken in four villages on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the southeast of the state, by ...

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...

Sami languages Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Maltese language Maltese ( mt, Malti, links=no, also ''L-Ilsien Malti'' or '), is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata spoken by the Maltese people. It is the national language of Malta and the only offici ...

Corsican language Corsican (''corsu'' , ; full name: ''lingua corsa'' , ) is a Romance language constituted by the continuum of the Italo-Romance dialects spoken on the Mediterranean island of Corsica (France) and on the northern end of the island of Sardinia (Ita ...

Cheyenne language The Cheyenne language (, ) (informal spelling Tsisinstsistots), is the Native American language spoken by the Cheyenne people, predominantly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma, in the United States. It is part of the Algonquian language fami ...

Kurdish languages Kurdish (, ) is a language or a group of languages spoken by Kurds in the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan and the Kurdish diaspora. Kurdish constitutes a dialect continuum, belonging to Western Iranian languages in the Indo-European language ...

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

, Galician language,

Shuar language Shuar, which literally means "people", also known by such (now derogatory) terms as Chiwaro, Jibaro, Jivaro, or Xivaro, is an indigenous language spoken by the Shuar, Shuar people of Morona Santiago Province and Pastaza Province in the Ecuador ...

Yoruba language Yoruba (, ; Yor. '; Ajami script, Ajami: ) is a language spoken in West Africa, primarily in South West (Nigeria), Southwestern Middle Belt, and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Ethnic group, ethnic Yoruba people. The number of Yoruba speake ...

Frisian languages The Frisian (, ) languages are a closely related group of West Germanic languages, spoken by about 500,000 Frisian people, who live on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. The Frisian languages are the closest li ...

Griko dialect Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in Calabria. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it ( el, ...

Occitan language Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...

Award winners

edition 1, year 2008

22–23 November *

Max Roqueta Max Roqueta ( Argelliers, December 8, 1908 – June 22, 2005) was one of the most famous contemporary Occitan writers. A physician, he was also an activist (he had been president of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans The Institut d'Estudis Occitans (E ...

''language:

'', Special Award * Alfredo Conde ''language: Galician'', International Award * Carlo Sgorlon ''language: Friulian'', National Award

edition 2, year 2010

19–20 June *

Gavino Ledda Gavino Ledda (; born 30 December 1938) is an author and a scholar of the Italian language and of Sardinian. He is best known for his autobiographical work ''Padre Padrone'' (1975). Biography Early life Ledda was born in Siligo, in the Province ...

''language: Sardinian'', Special Award *

Witi Ihimaera Witi Tame Ihimaera-Smiler (; born 7 February 1944) is a New Zealand author. Raised in the small town of Waituhi, he decided to become a writer as a teenager after being convinced that Māori people were ignored or mischaracterised in literat ...

''language:

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

'', International Award *

Boris Pahor Boris Pahor, OMRI (; 26 August 1913 – 30 May 2022) was a Slovene novelist from Trieste, Italy, who was best known for his heartfelt descriptions of life as a member of the Slovenian minority in pre–Second World War increasingly fascist It ...

''language: Slovene'', National Award * Ives Rouquette ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Constantino Canales ''language: Huave'', Young Writers Award * Arturo Viano ''language:

'', Translation Award

edition 3, year 2011

3–5 June *

Vincenzo Consolo Vincenzo Consolo (18 February 1933 – 21 January 2012) was an Italian writer. Consolo was born in Sant'Agata di Militello, but resided in Milan from 1969 until his death. He began his literary career in 1963, but gained wider attention in 197 ...

''language: Sicilian'', Special Award *

Harkaitz Cano ''Twist'' is a 2011 crime novel, with elements of political thriller, written by Basque writer Harkaitz Cano. The book won the 2012 Basque Literature Prize. The original Basque version was published by the Editorial Susa in 2011, Gerardo Mar ...

''language:

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

'', International Award * Andrea Nicolussi Gold ''language:

Cimbrian Cimbrian ( cim, zimbar, links=no, ; german: Zimbrisch; it, cimbro) refers to any of several local Upper German varieties spoken in northeastern Italy. The speakers of the language are known as ''Zimbern'' in German. Cimbrian is a Germanic l ...

'', National Award * Aurélia Lassaque ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Tuntiak Katan ''language:

Shuar The Shuar are an Indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru. They are members of the Jivaroan peoples, who are Amazonian tribes living at the headwaters of the Marañón River. Name Shuar, in the Shuar language, means "people". The people who speak ...

'', Young Writers Award * Reuven Miran ''language:

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

'', Translation Award

edition 4, year 2012

2–3 June *

Sergio Salvi Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass * ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film * ''Se ...

, ''writer'', Special Award * Kerttu Vuolab ''language:

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

'', International Award * Joseph Zoderer ''language: German'', National Award * Sergi Bec ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Maite Brazales ''language:

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

'', Young Writers Award * Diegu Corràine ''language: Sardinian'', Translation Award

edition 5, year 2013

1–2 June * Chenreb Gyamtso, known as Nodreng ''language:

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

'', Special Award * Mehmet Altun ''language:

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

'', International Award * Rut Bernardi ''language:

Ladin Ladin may refer to: * Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) * Ladino (disambigua ...

'', National Award * Joan Larzac ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Antony Heulin ''language:

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

'', Young Writers Award *

Francesco Ferrucci Francesco Ferruccio (or Ferrucci) (14893 August 1530) was an Italian captain from Florence who fought in the Italian Wars. Biography After spending a few years as a merchant's clerk he took to soldiering at an early age, and served his apprentic ...

''language:

'', Translation Award

edition 6, year 2014

31 May – 2 June *

Marcel Courthiade Marcel Courthiade (2 August 1953 – 4 March 2021) was a French linguist and researcher. Biography Courthiade studied medicine at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, which he abandoned to study Slavic languages, particularly Serbo-Croatian and Po ...

''language:

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

'', Special Award * Lance David Henson ''language:

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

'', International Award * Franco Marchetta ''language: Friulian'', National Award * Danielle Julien ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language *

Arno Camenisch Arno Camenisch (born 1 February 1978 in the village of Tavanasa in the Swiss Canton Grisons) is a Swiss writer publishing in German and Romansh. Biography Camenisch grew up in Tavanasa and moved to Chur to study at a teacher training college ...

''language: Romansh'', Young Writers Award * Anthony Aquilina ''language: Maltese'', Translation Award

edition 7, year 2015

30 May – 2 June * Jun Tiburcio Perez Gonzales (Jun Tiburcio) ''language: Totonacan'', Special Award * Jacques Thiers ''language: Corsican'', International Award *

Antonia Arslan Antonia Arslan ( hy, Անտոնիա Արսլան, born 1938) is an Italian writer and academic of Armenian origin. Biography Arslan was born in Padua in 1938 to Michele Arslan and Vittoria Marchiori. Her paternal grandfather Yerwant Arslanian w ...

''language:

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

'', National Award *

James Thomas James Thomas may refer to: Politicians * James Thomas (Australian politician) (1826–1884), civil engineer who was Director of Public Works in Western Australia, 1876–1884 * James Thomas (Governor of Maryland) (1785–1845), served as the 23rd ...

''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Niillas Holmberg ''language:

'', Young Writers Award * Clive Boutle Translation Award

edition 8, year 2016

2–5 June *

Kola Tubosun Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún is a Nigerian linguist, writer, translator, scholar, and cultural activist.

'' language:

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

'', Special Award * María Clara Sharupi Jua ''language:

'', International Award * Salvatore Tommasi ''language:

Griko Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is the dialect of Italiot Greek spoken by Griko people in Salento (province of Lecce) and (also called Grecanic) in Calabria. Some Greek linguists consider it to be a Modern Greek dialect and often call it ( el, � ...

'', National Award * Joan Ganiayre ''language:

'', Award for the Occitan language * Tsead Bruinja ''language: West Frisian'', Young Writers Award * Lurdes Auzmendi ''language:

'', Translation Award

Awards to artistic career

* Rocco De Santis ''language:

'', Award for Musical Composition * Renato Morelli Film Award

edition 9, year 2017

* Salem Zenia ''language:

Amazigh , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

''- Kabyle, Special Award * Joséphine Bacon ''language :

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

,'' International Award * Francesco Severini ''language: linguistic minorities of Italy'', National Award * Roland Pecout ''language:

,'' Award for the Occitan language * Erlend O. Nodtvedt ''language:

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

,'' Giovani Award *

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

,'' 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, Special Award * Adil Olluri, International Award * Tatjana Rojc, Minority award for historical language of Italy. * Matthieu Poitavin, Occitan Language Award *

Doireann Ní Ghríofa Doireann Ní Ghríofa is an Irish poet and essayist who writes in both Irish and English. Biography Doireann Ní Ghríofa was born in Galway in 1981, but grew up in County Clare. She now lives in County Cork. Ní Ghríofa has been published wi ...

, Giovani Award * Aleksej Leontiev, Translation Award * Joan Isaac, Prize for Musical Composition * Asier Altuna, 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 Manuel Rivas Barrós (born 24 October 1957 in A Coruña, Spain) is a Galician writer, poet and journalist. Biography Manuel Rivas Barrós began his writing career at the age of 15. He has written articles and literary essays for Spanish newspa ...

, International award Galician language (Spain) * Anna Maria Bacher, Historical linguistic minorities prize in Italy

Walser language Walser German (german: Walserdeutsch) and Walliser German (, locally ) are a group of Highest Alemannic dialects spoken in parts of Switzerland (Valais, Ticino, Grisons), Italy (Piedmont, Aosta Valley), Liechtenstein (Triesenberg, Planken), a ...

(Italy) * Gérard Zuchetto,

Award Occitan language (France) * Dariia "Neseni" Martynova, Youth Award Lingua even (Siberia, Russia) * Craig Patterson, Galician Language Translation Prize (Spain) *

Franca Masu Franca Masu (born 1962 in Alghero, Sardinia, Italy) is a singer songwriter working in the Catalan Algherese dialect. At her debut Tony Scott declared her "one of Italy's top vocal talents". Her songs often incorporate the work of Algherese poets. ...

, Music composition award,

of Alghero (Italy) *

Marcelo Martinessi Marcelo Martinessi is a Paraguayan filmmaker. His films include "Karai norte" (2009), "The Lost Voice" (2016), and ''The Heiresses'' ( es, Las herederas), the latter being selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 68th Berlin International F ...

, Cinema award,

Guarani language Guaraní (), specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani ( "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of P ...

(Paraguay)

edition 12 (2020) and edition 13 (2021)

Both editions held without awardees because of the Covid19 pandemic.

edition 14, 2022

* Diego Marani (Europanto language-game) - Special Prize * Francho Nagore Laín (Aragonese language – Spain) - Interanational Prize * Rosalba Perini (Friulan language) - Historic Linguistic Minorities Award in Italy * Bhuchung D. Sonamm (Tibetan language – Nepal) - Youth Award * Stefania Maria Ciminelli (Catalan language – Spain) - Translation Award * Paulina Kamakine (Occitan language – France) - Occitan language award * Marine Lavigne (Breton language – France) - Music Composition Award * Fredo Valla (Occitan language – Italy) - Cinema award.

References

{{Reflist

Awards established in 2008 2008 establishments in Italy