(Photo by National Book Council)
The winners of the 2024 National Book Prize, for books published in 2023, were announced during a private ceremony held at the Maritime Museum in Birgu on Friday 20 September 2024.
The National Book Prize is presented annually by the National Book Council, with the winning titles chosen by an independent board of adjudicators in line with a selection process
Present for the ceremony was the Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research & Innovation, Hon. Clifton Grima, who emphasised the importance of literary excellence as a reflection of Malta’s intellectual development.
The winning titles were selected from a shortlist of 61 titles across 12 competitive categories.
As a commitment to maintaining the highest literary standards, the adjudication panel for the NBC decided not to shortlist any titles in the Novels category.
Members of the Adjudication Board included Dr Omar ‘N’ Shea, the Director of the International School for Foundation Studies, Prof. Mario Thomas Vassallo, the Head of the Department of Public Policy within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, and Prof. William Zammit, Professor at the Department of Library ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ & Archive Sciences within the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences.
UM members were also among the winners announced on the night, with Dr Immanuel Mifsud from the Department of Maltese being awarded the prize in the Poetry in Maltese & English for Għażiż Ä ismi, and Mr Ryan Falzon being awarded as Best Emergent Writer. Dr Theresa Vella from the Department of the History of Architecture was awarded the prize in the category 'Research', for 'Vincenzo Bonello: His Legacy in Heritage'. The winning book included essays by Prof. Joseph M. Brincat (Department of Italian), Prof. Conrad Thake and Dr Christian Attard (Department of History of Art).
For the Terramaxka Prize for Children and Young Adults, Ms Leanne Ellul was awarded for her book , Dr David Aloisio was awarded for his translation of the book and Ms Clare Azzopardi was awarded for two publications; and .
Congratulations to all the winners.
The full list of winners can be found .
