Goncourt prize

Prize Goncourt (from French: Prix Goncourt '[pʁi ɡɔ̃kuʁ]') is a French literary award created by Edmond de Goncourt in his will in 1896 in memory of his brother Jules Huot.

Trajectory and standards

It was first granted on December 21, 1903 —after the legal battle of Goncourt's descendants, who opposed the will, ended in defeat three years earlier— and has since become one of the most important literary prizes in France. Although the recognition is today only symbolic -10 euros currently; before, from 1903 the winner received a check for 50 francs-, the winner is assured of a sales success.

The Goncourt Prize is proclaimed at the beginning of November by the ten members of the Goncourt Academy, officially created in 1906, who reward the best volume of imagination in prose among the novels published in the year in course. Before three pre-selections are made, which begin in September. The members of the Academy meet every Tuesday in their room located on the second floor of the Drouant restaurant, rue Gaillon, in the second district of Paris. There is a maximum of 14 rounds of voting: in the first ten, to designate the winner there must be an absolute majority; from the eleventh to the thirteenth, a simple majority is enough and in the event of a tie, the vote of the president of the Academy automatically becomes decisive in the fourteenth.

The prize can only be awarded once in the life of each writer, although in the history of the award there was an exception: Romain Gary, who received it twice: the first time, in 1956, under his real name, and the second time. second, in 1975, under the pseudonym Émile Ajar. It was only after Gary's suicide in 1980 that it was revealed that he had written four more novels under this name, including the award-winning.

In 2008, after repeated criticism, the Academy modified the rules of the award, establishing that it is incompatible to be a member of the jury and, at the same time, receive a salary from a publisher; In addition, an age limit was set to be a juror: 80 years and other minor changes were introduced, such as the prohibition of remote voting and penalties for repeated absences.

Other awards

The Academy also grants scholarships, which are now known as the Goncourt prizes: for Poetry (awarded from 1985 to a poet, for all his work), for Nouvelle (awarded since 1974 and from 2001 has the collaboration of the Municipality of Strasbourg), of Biography (delivered since 1999, in collaboration with the Municipality of Nancy), of First Novel (from 1990 and with the collaboration of the Municipality of Paris) and Youth (in collaboration with the municipality of Fontvieille).

The Goncourt Student Prize (Prix Goncourt des lycéens), organized by Fnac and the Ministry of National Education, has been awarded since 1988. The Academy makes its September selection available to students, and these are based on it in their votes. The award is announced in November, in Rennes, in the presence of representatives of the Academy, a few days after the Goncourt Prize.

Since 1998, the French Institute of Krakow awards the Goncourt Prize: The Polish Choice (prix Goncourt: le choix polonais), which is awarded by a jury made up of French students from Polish universities based on the list delivered by the Academy in September.

In addition, since 1926, the Goncourt has been associated with the Renaudot Prize, created that year by ten literary critics while they awaited the verdict on the country's most prestigious award. Although it is not organically linked to the Goncourt, it has become its natural complement, which is reinforced by the fact that the Renaudot Prize is announced simultaneously and in the same place with it.

Award Winners

• 1903 - John Antoine Nau, Force ennemie
• 1904 - Léon Frapié, The maternelle
• 1905 - Claude Farrère, Les civilisés
• 1906 - Jerôme and Jean Tharaud, Dingley, l'illustre écrivain
• 1907 - Émile Moselly, Le Rouet d'ivoire
• 1908 - Francis de Miomandre, Écrit sur de l'eau...
• 1909 - Marius-Ary Leblond, En France
• 1910 - Louis Pergaud, De Goupil à Margot
• 1911 - Alphonse de Chateaubriant, Monsieur des Lourdines
• 1912 - André Savignon, Pluie filters
• 1913 - Marc Elder, Le peuple de la mer
• 1914 - Adrien Bertrand, L'Appel du sol
• 1915 - René Benjamin, Gaspard
• 1916 - Henri Barbusse, Le feu
• 1917 - Henry Malherbe, The flamme au poing
• 1918 - Georges Duhamel, Civilisation
• 1919 - Marcel Proust, In the shadow of the girls in bloom (volume 2 of In search of the lost time,)
• 1920 - Ernest Pérochon, Nêne
• 1921 - René Maran, Batouala
• 1922 - Henry Béraud, Le vitriol de la lune and Le martyre de l'obèse
• 1923 - Lucien Fabre, Rabevel ou Le mal des ardents
• 1924 - Thierry Sandre, Le Chèvrefeuille
• 1925 - Maurice Genevoix, Raboliot
• 1926 - Henri Deberly, Le supplice de Phèdre
• 1927 - Maurice Bedel, Jérôme 60° latitude nord
• 1928 - Maurice Constantin Weyer, Un homme se penche sur son passé
• 1929 - Marcel Arland, L'ordre
• 1930 - Henry Fauconnier, Malaisie
• 1931 - Jean Fayard, Mal d'amour
• 1932 - Guy Mazeline, Les Loups
• 1933 - André Malraux, The condition humaine
• 1934 - Roger Vercel, Capitaine Conan
• 1935 - Joseph Peyre, Sang et Lumières
• 1936 - Maxence Van der Meersch, L'Empreinte de Dieu
• 1937 - Charles Plisnier, Faux passeports
• 1938 - Henri Troyat, L'Araignée
• 1939 - Philippe Heriat, Les enfants gâtés
• 1940 - Francis Ambriere, Les grande cownces
• 1941 - Henri Pourrat, Le vent de mars
• 1942 - Marc Bernard, Pareil à des enfants
• 1943 - Marius Grout, Passage de l'homme
• 1944 - Elsa Triolet, Le premier accroc coûte 200 Francs
• 1945 - Jean-Louis Bory, Mon village à l'heure allemande
• 1946 - Jean-Jacques Gautier, Histoire d'un fait divers
• 1947 - Jean-Louis Curtis, Les forêts de la nuit
• 1948 - Maurice Druon, Les grandes familles
• 1949 - Robert Merle, Week-end à Zuydcoote
• 1950 - Paul Colin, Les jeux sauvages
• 1951 - Julien Gracq, Le rivage des Syrtes
• 1952 - Béatrice Beck, Léon Morin, prêtre
• 1953 - Pierre Gascar, Les Bêtes
• 1954 - Simone de Beauvoir, Les Mandarins
• 1955 - Roger Ikor, Les eaux mêlées
• 1956 - Romain Gary, Les racines du Ciel
• 1957 - Roger Vailland, LaLoi
• 1958 - Francis Walder, Saint Germain ou la négociation
• 1959 - André Schwartz-Bart, Le dernier des justes
• 1960 - Vintilă Horia, Dieu est né en exil
• 1961 - Jean Cau, The pitié of Dieu
• 1962 - Anna Langfus, Les bagages de sable
• 1963 - Armand Lanoux, Quand the mer
• 1964 - Georges Conchon, L'état sauvage
• 1965 - Jacques Borel, L'adoration
• 1966 - Edmonde Charles-Roux, Oublier Palerme
• 1967 - André Pieyre de Mandiargues, The Marge
• 1968 - Bernard Clavel, Les fruits de l'hiver
• 1969 - Félicien Marceau, Creezy
• 1970 - Michel Tournier, Le roi des Aulnes
• 1971 - Jacques Laurent, Les Bêtises
• 1972 - Jean Carrière, L'Epervier de Maheux
• 1973 - Jacques Chessex, L'ogre
• 1974 - Pascal Lainé, La dentellière
• 1975 - Emile Ajar (pseudonym of Romain Gary), The vie devant soi
• 1976 - Patrick Grainville, Les Flamboyants
• 1977 - Didier Decoin, John l'Enfer
• 1978 - Patrick Modiano, Rue des boutiques obscures
• 1979 - Antonine Maillet, Pélagie la Charette
• 1980 - Yves Navarre, Le garden d'acclimatation
• 1981 - Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
• 1982 - Dominique Fernandez, Dans the main of l'ange
• 1983 - Frédérick Tristan, Les Egarés
• 1984 - Marguerite Duras, L'amant
• 1985 - Yann Queffelec, Les noces barbares
• 1986 - Michel Host, Valet de nuit
• 1987 - Tahar Ben Jelloun, The nuit sacrée
• 1988 - Érik Orsenna, L'exposition coloniale
• 1989 - Jean Vautrin, A grand pas vers le Bon Dieu
• 1990 - Jean Rouaud, Les champs d'honneur
• 1991 - Pierre Combescot, Les filles du calvaire
• 1992 - Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
• 1993 - Amin Maalouf, Le rocher de Tanios
• 1994 - Didier van Cauwelaert, A simple aller (A one-way ticket)
• 1995 - Andreï Makine, Le Testament français
• 1996 - Pascale Roze, Le Chasseur zéro
• 1997 - Patrick Rambaud, The Bataille
• 1998 - Paule Constant, Confidence pour confidence
• 1999 - Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais (I'm leaving.)
• 2000 - Jean-Jacques Schuhl, Ingrid Caven
• 2001 - Jean-Christophe Rufin, Rouge Brésil (Red Brazil)
• 2002 - Pascal Quignard, Erratic omens (The wandering shadows)
• 2003 - Jacques-Pierre Amette, The maîtresse of Brecht (The lover of Brecht)
• 2004 - Laurent Gaudé, Le soleil des Scorta (The Sun of the Scorta)
• 2005 - François Weyergans, Trois jours chez ma mère (Three days at my mother's.)
• 2006 - Jonathan Littell, Les Bienveillantes (The benevolent.)
• 2007 - Gilles Leroy, Alabama Song
• 2008 - Atiq Rahimi, Syngué Sabour. Pierre of patience (The Stone of Patience)
• 2009 - Marie NDiaye, Trois femmes puissantes (Three strong women)
• 2010 - Michel Houellebecq, La carte et le territoire (Map and territory)
• 2011 - Alexis Jenni, L'art français de la guerre (The French Art of War)
• 2012 - Jérôme Ferrari, Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome (The Sermon of the Fall of Rome)
• 2013 - Pierre Lemaitre, Au revoir là-haut (See you up there.)
• 2014 - Lydie Salvayre, Pas pleurer (Don't cry)
• 2015 - Mathias Enard, Boussole (compass)
• 2016 - Leïla Slimani, Chanson douce (Sweet song)
• 2017 - Éric Vuillard, L'Ordre du jour (The Agenda)
• 2018 - Nicolas Mathieu, Leurs enfants après eux (His children after them)
• 2019 - Jean-Paul Dubois, Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon (Not all men inhabit the world in the same way)
• 2020 - Hervé Le Tellier, L'Anomalie(The anomaly)
• 2021 - Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, La plus secrète mémoire des hommes
• 2022 - Brigitte Giraud, Vivre vite (Live fast)