XVI Ostana Prize “Writings in Mother Tongues” / Premio Ostana 16ª edizione

The 16th edition of the Ostana Prize is taking place on 28th, 29th and 30th June 2024. We invite you to a one of a kind, unforgettable experience in Miribrart hamlet, in front of Monviso: a cultural, linguistic, emotional immersion en convivéncia (“the art of living together in harmony”) in company of the 8 award winners.

Participating in the three days of the Ostana Prize is a profound experience of sharing, something we need if we want to bring about a real change in sensitivity regarding linguistic diversity and the promotion of language rights. Nowadays we already see that artificial intelligence will never be able to replace the human being in our incredible creativity: the strength and resistance of mother tongues is tangible proof that cultural and human creativity can be hindered, but not stopped.

Discover the programme at www.premioostana.it and take a look at our video teaser for 2024!

THE OSTANA PRIZE

The “Ostana Prize: Writings in Mother Tongue” is a celebration of the cultural biodiversity of humanity. Our goal is to let people listen to the sound of minority and indigenous languages which have a determination to live and thrive despite all obstacles, and through them discover the past and present stories of their community, of the peoples who speak them.

Born from the desire to know and make known writers, filmmakers, musicians from different parts of the planet, the Ostana Prize has become a formidable opportunity to meet and exchange experiences for dozens of authors from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania who illustrate and make the language of their community alive with their creative work.

2024 EDITION 🔥

“Lo fuec es encà ros dessot la brasa…” (“The fire still glows beneath the embers…”) D. Anghilante – S. Sodano

The motto that will accompany the Prize this year is taken from an Occitan song composed in the 1970’s which the songwriter Dajre d’Angel brought around the Occitan Valleys and that would became one of the elements that favoured the awakening of awareness and love towards the Occitan language, which at the moment was dormant. For the first time, the Ostana Prize has a song-hymn. You can listen to it here.

“The fire still glows beneath the embers” because mother tongues are living beings, not only because they are alive but because they do not want to die, they strive to thrive from generation to generation. And the fire of our languages glows beyond everything because mother tongues’ work in the shadows is invisible in our day to day life, but it is decisive in every social context, essential in every human experience, significant within every personal and cultural relationship.

This year, like in 2023, the Ostana Prize has received the support of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages declared by UNESCO, and has two important European networks as partners: the European Language Equality Network (ELEN) and the Network for the Promotion of Language Diversity (NPLD).

2024 AWARDEES

• Special Prize: Koumarami Karama  – Dioula language (Burkina Faso)
• International Prize: Firat Cewerî – Kurdish language (Turkey)
• Historical Linguistic Minorities in Italy Prize:  Stefen Dell’Antonio Monech – Ladin language (Italy)
• Occitan Prize: Michèle Stenta – Occitan language (France)
• Translation Prize: Jayde Will – Latgalian language – (Latvia)
• Youth Prize: Daniel Petrilă  – Romanì language (Romania)
• Music Prize: Arnold de Boer “Zea” – Frisian language (the Netherlands)
• Cinema Prize: Roger Williams – Welsh language (United Kingdom)

15 EDITIONS SO FAR, 47 LANGUAGES

At Ostana, 47 mother tongues have been represented through 88 artists and authors over the course of 15 years.

The languages and people we’ve awarded: Friulian, Slovenian, Cimbrian, Armenian, Sardinian, Tibetan, Totonacan, Romani, Galician, Maori, Ladin, Basque, Saami, Kurdish, Cheyenne, Corsican, Hebrew, Catalan, Maltese, Sicilian, Yoruba, Shuar, Frisian, Griko, Huave, Breton, Romansh, Innu, Nynorsk, Amazigh-Kabylian, Amazigh-Tamajaght, Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Albanian, Occitan, Even, Chuvash, Guaraní, Asturian, Europanto, Mazatec, Walser, Nynorsk, Aragonese, Tibetan.

The previous edition: 2023 – info on the UNESCO platform website here.

VIDEO MATERIALS

Take a look at some visual materials about the Ostana Prize along the years to capture the essence of the festival and their awardees on our Youtube channel:

• The awardees of Hall of fame of the Ostana Prize awardees 2008-2024
• Interview to Fiona Mackenzie, 2023 Music Award – Gaelic language
• Interview to Josephine Bacon, 2017 International Award, Innu language

THE ORGANIZER: CHAMBRA D’ÒC

The Chambra d’Òc is a cultural association that works in the field of promotion and enhancement of the lesser  used languages in the world. Its main objectives are the protection of the Occitan and Francoprovençal language and culture in Italy.

The Chambra d’Òc association operates in the field of language promotion through both local and international projects such as the ‘Ostana Prize, Writings in Mothers Tongue’, the creation of the documentary film ‘Bogre -The Great European Heresy‘, tracing the footsteps of Cathars and Bogomils in the Middle Ages in Occitania,  campaigns such as ‘Occitània a pè‘ (“Occitania on foot” calling for UNESCO to recognise Occitan as world heritage), territorial projects such as ‘Chantar l’uvèrn‘ (“Singing Winter”),  festival of development of the local territory through the promotion of music, cinema, tourism, cuisine of the Valleys, etc.), publishing of books in Occitan, training of operators and linguistic desks who offer language courses, translation and language counselling in Occitan and Francoprovençal.