Solemnly and dignifiedly, the Writers' Association of Macedonia (DPM) presented its traditional annual awards for 13 on February 2024th in its premises and simultaneously celebrated 78 years since its founding. The ceremony was enriched by the performance of Dobrila and Dorian Duo.

The annual DPM awards for 2024 were given to works that stand out for their literary values. The DPM "Stale Popov" award for the best prose achievement in 2024 went to the book titled "Storyteller" by Žarko Kujundžiski ("Anthology").

11 prose works applied for the "Stale Popov" award. The committee was composed of Blaže Minevski, Petar Andonovski and Liljana Pandeva.

– The award-winning collection of short stories "Storyteller" is composed of short stories written over a longer period of time, which is noticeable in the style, language, and structure, but very skillfully collected in one work, because they all have the story at their core, that is, its creation, from the beginning, growth to almost apocalyptic or, alternatively, banal endings.

Kujundzhiski's lush language "comes to life" in his stories and enlivens his stories, regardless of whether they are composed of only ten words or four thousand words. But it must be said that it is precisely the number of words that gives a certain rhythm to the collection. Namely, it begins with the shortest story, and ends with a rather long story. Hence, Kujundzhiski's pen not only weaves the story, but also plays it out almost to the point of pain that one cannot live without it - the jury emphasized in the explanation of the award.

The poetry collection "Dedications and Praises" by Ivan Džeparoski ("Dialogue") received the DPM's "Aco Shopov" award for the best poetry collection in 2024.

– The poetry book “Dedications and Praises” by Ivan Džeparoski is a continuation and rounding off of his philosophically inflected poetics of delirium, for which he will remain recognizable in Macedonian poetry. Ivan Džeparoski is a poet of erudition and a poet of culture.

As one of the top Macedonian intellectuals and aestheticians, the poet Džeparoski follows his personal vocation in his ninth book of poetry, "Dedications and Praises." In doing so, he showed that it is possible to build a poetic system whose dominant and constant feature will be the presence of motifs with an ethical and cultural connotation.

On the one hand, the poet sings of eternal themes, such as virtue, vice, games, dialogue, and on the other, he also shows sensitivity towards current topics, such as artificial intelligence, digital culture, the Covid pandemic, and environmental issues. One cycle from this latest collection of his is a replica of the colloquial phrase "I buy old things" sung in Aco Shopov's popular song with the same title.

Through the introductory cycle "Dedications by Affinity" and the other five cycles with the preface "Praise", Ivan Džeparoski marks his creative ancestors from the history of Macedonian poetry and other iconic figures in the field of art and philosophy - notes the commission consisting of Katica Kjulavkova, Gordana Mihailova-Boshnakoska and Vlada Urošević.

The book "Kisses in the Sky" by Ivan Antonovski ("Firefly") is the winner of the DPM's "Vancho Nikoleski" award for the best book for children and young people in 2024.

– The children's book "Kisses in the Sky" by author Ivan Antonovski is a gentle and warm story that, upon first reading, at its core, is a story about the emergence of winter and about small, everyday "games" between children. "Everything beautiful that exists in this world is created by love" – is the author's motto at the end of the book. Love between a little sister and a little brother, a love that, like that of the clouds in the sky that kiss to create snow, lasts forever (or at least, as long as we exist).

Although Antonovski is an experienced writer, proven in other spheres and genres, he has very deeply and skillfully delved into the seriousness of children's literature and, as a debutant in this genre, has built an important layering that simultaneously addresses both child readers and parent readers - explained the jury consisting of Biljana S. Crvenkovska, Mito Spasevski and Aleksandra Velinova.

The DPM "Dimitar Mitrev" Award for the best book of criticism or essays in 2024 went to "Literary Monuments" by Natasha Avramovska (Institute of Macedonian Literature).

– The book "Literary Monuments" by Natasha Avramovska is a supremely erudite achievement with a complex, polyphonic composition of a dozen critical studies written on various, significant occasions and anniversaries, which orbit around one pivotal motif - cultural memory.

The author confidently moves through the genre trajectories of contemporary Macedonian literature, starting from the autobiographical writings of M. Cepenkov towards the end of the 19th century, through the poetic prose of B. Koneski, the novel Investigation by K. Chashule or the family saga of B. Ivanov and J. Pavlovski, all the way to the postmodern variations and strange optics of the city – in O. Nikolova, of childhood – in E. Lafazanovski, of Otherness – in the plays of G. Stefanovski or of the riddle – in the work of P. M. Andreevski.

A special contribution of the book is the comparative views of literary memory in contemporary Macedonian literature in relation to two ancient eras: the Old Slavonic and the Ottoman, which meet in the symbol of Constantinople, i.e. Istanbul. With its thoughtful concept, contextual scope, scientific approach and meticulous style, this book makes a significant contribution to the interpretation not only of the key figures of contemporary Macedonian literature, but also of their individual achievements which, according to the author, represent significant "literary monuments" as a precious and lasting contribution to our cultural heritage - points out the jury consisting of Lidija Kapuševska-Drakulevska, Dejan Trajkoski and Sande Stojčevski.

The DPM's "Most" award for the best work published in one of the languages ​​of the nationalities in Macedonia in 2024 went to "Once upon a time there was a house" by Gordana Jović-Stojkovska ("The Word of Love").

– Gordana Jović-Stojkovska's novel has a fairy-tale title – “Once upon a time there was a house”. The composition of the work is solid – similar to the musical form of a fugue, with two lines of action, one of which is written in italics, and the two elements of the novel, the two lines of action, are written with completely different methods, in different styles, independent in rhythm and content, but harmonious and mutually dependent on each other until the end.

The author Gordana Jović-Stojkovska is a novelist, essayist, poet and researcher in the field of South Slavic mythology, more precisely, she is the author of novels, poetry books, short stories and dictionaries, as well as anthologies and literary criticism. None of this information from the author's biography is mentioned by chance.

Namely, the novel "Once Upon a House" is such a work, the creation of which requires very serious research into ethnology, mythology, literary history, existentialist philosophy and all spiritual disciplines that deal with eternal themes. This novel is an unusual work in search of the meaning of human existence and happiness - explained the jury consisting of Seida Beganović, Tihomir Jančovski and Lejla Šerif-Emin.

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" number 268, in the printed edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 15-16.2.2025)