Student Writing Contest

The 2023 edition of the Louise Weiss Prize is co-sponsored by the Ukrainian playwright Neda Nejdana and the young writer and poet Marina Skalova of Russian origin, both writers in the Writing Europe artist in residency programme.

The Louise Weiss Prize in Literature aims to encourage the writing, reading and selection of texts by the student community. On a given theme, students are invited to write texts in French, English and, for this new edition, Spanish, in the literary genre of their choice.

Sixteen texts - ten in French, three in Spanish and three in English - will be pre-selected by a jury made up of equal numbers of writers, teachers and students, and then submitted for reading and electronic vote selection by the entire student community. This vote will determine the six winners of the competition: three student prizes in French, Spanish and English, each worth 1000 €. The Jury will decide on the three French-language jury prizes of 1000 €, 800 € and 500 €.

The sixteen selected texts will be published by Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg in autumn 2023, with a preface by Neda Nejdana and Marina Skalova. The foreign language texts will be translated into French by students of the Faculty of Languages, under the supervision of the teachers.

After Résister ; La Rencontre ; La Blessure ; Europe ; Dé/connexion ; Bleu ; Ailleurs, si proche ; L’autre, L’inconnu et La Merveille, the theme for the 2022-2023 competition is Libres (Free).

Sponsors

Offered by the Faculty of Languages and the Faculty of Letters of the University of Strasbourg, and the National University Library of Strasbourg, Writing Europe - Louise Weiss Prize is sponsored by the University Service for Cultural Action with the support of the Drac Grand Est, the Fondation Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, in collaboration with the University Library Service.

The Ukrainian playwright Neda Nejdana and the young Russian-born writer and poet Marina Skalova have been invited to share the Writing Europe artists in residency. They are also sponsoring the 10th anniversary edition of the Louise Weiss Prize for student literature.

Particularly committed to the renewal and political merit of literature and art, the two authors will give lectures at the BNU, offer creative writing workshops in the university, testify in duo, and discuss their literary and personal experiences.