The tenth edition of the literary competition aimed primarily at young children introduces them to the joy of writing and encourages them to explore their local area.
A national benchmark for promoting creative writing amongst young people, fostering dialogue between the worlds of education, publishing and the younger generations. This is the milestone now achieved by the ‘Lagunando’ International Literary Prize, organised by the cultural, literary and publishing association ‘Unicorn’ (now a publishing house), under the patronage of the Municipality, the Region and the Metropolitan City of Venice. The event follows a two-pronged approach: the first, perhaps the most ambitious, is aimed at school groups and is known as ‘I Liopiccoli’. Indeed, precisely to encourage wider participation, the entire programme – including the awards ceremony – takes place during the school year. The awards ceremony was held at the prestigious ‘Foscarini’ school; the chosen theme was ‘The Unicorn’. The six first prizes went to: Vera Zilio, Ye Xiaoduo and Agata Parolin for fiction; Class 4 of the Foscarini School, Salvatore Di Pietro and Theofanò Suppiej for poetry. All the winners from last May (including those who came second and third) will be present on the 26th of September at the Teatro Comunale in Cavallino-Treporti, when the awards ceremony for the adult section will take place. The two main categories in this section are: ‘Leggere lagune’ (poetry) and ‘Orti dei dogi’ (fiction); and, new for the tenth anniversary, the ‘I cavalieri dei sogni’ category, an invitation to dream, to write and to share the beauty of words.
In short, this edition has become even more special, given the significant milestone achieved; for this reason, the number of prizes on offer has been doubled, broadening the opportunities for participation.