Within the framework of the 49th International Book Fair of Buenos Aires, the results of the Literary Contest Foundation The Book 2025 were announced, which annually distinguishes volumes of unpublished stories written in the Castilian language. The seventh edition of the contest – which presented more than 500 works from 24 countries – consecrated Sebastián Menegaz, Noemí Solimando and Jorgelina Palavecino as the winners of the first, second and third prize respectively.
The jury was made up of writers Alejandra Kamiya, Margarita García Robayo and Juan Becerra, who selected the three works between a set of works presented from different regions of the country. The awards ceremony will take place this Wednesday, May 7, at 7:00 p.m., in the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento room of the white pavilion of La Rural.
Born in Córdoba in 1981, Sebastián Menegaz is a writer, critic and filmmaker. His winning work, SNARK crewwas highlighted by the jury for “advancing with a solid, safe writing. So much that it is allowed to disguise itself as a translation and make all kinds of games to create its own universe.”
Menegaz has a consolidated literary trajectory. He is a collaborator in media such as Another part, The dilentant y Hurlingham Post. His book The transparent show He obtained the province of Córdoba of Literature, while The Harapient League He was awarded by the National Arts Fund in 2019. He is also the author of The last Moscow.
The first prize is endowed with five million Argentine pesos.
With a forged career between law and literature, I didn’t unwind, born in 1948, obtained second place with The flower is not innocent. Graduated from the law career at the University of Buenos Aires, also studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the same House of Studies.
Has published Of sounds and other magic y Erotic storiesboth fruit of editorial awards. His work has been recognized in other instances, as at the Rosario Book Fair, where he received a second prize from Angelica Gorodischer.
The jury stressed that its volume “offers a clear narrative proposal, an efficient mechanism and a concise but deep writing in which there are beauty, darkness and redemption.”
Solimando will receive a prize of one million four hundred thousand Argentine pesos.
The writer Jorgelina Palavecino was born in 1978 in General Madariaga and currently resides in Quilmes, province of Buenos Aires. He studied lyrics at the National University of La Plata and Teachers in Language and Literature at the Teacher Training Institute No. 50 of Berazategui. Coordinates writing workshops and is the author of the books The quarantine, The name of the days y Black suns.
With his book Arborhe won the third prize of the contest. “It is a book of deep voices. And in each one there is a revelation and a mystery about that intimate darkness called ‘inner world’,” said the jury.
The economic recognition for third place is nine hundred thousand Argentine pesos.
Since its creation, the Book Foundation Award seeks to promote the production of stories in Spanish and give visibility to authors with diverse trajectories, from different areas and regions of the country. The choice of the winners of this edition confirms that diversity: a writer linked to the legal and philosophical world, a workshop of the Buenos Aires Conurbano, and a Cordoba filmmaker with experience in cultural criticism.
The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday 7 at 19 in the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento room of the White Pavilion, at the Book Fair, with free admission to the general public.
In addition to the distinctions, the following awards will be awarded to the winners:
● 1st Prize: $ 5,000,000 – (five million pesos)
● 2nd Prize, $ 1,400,000 – (one million four hundred thousand pesos)
● 3rd Prize, $ 900,000 – (nine hundred thousand pesos)
In addition to symbolic and economic recognition, the contest offers an outstanding platform for the dissemination of winning works within the editorial and literary circuit.
Wednesday’s gala will not only celebrate the three recognized books, but also the persistence of a genre that, despite its brevity, continues to open paths in the Argentine literary imaginary.
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