The first ever Istoria Timor Award Ceremony was held on the afternoon of Saturday, August 1, 2009. The event was hosted by John Holdaway and Abe Barreto at sunset in the beautiful beachfront Memorial da Paz and was attended by around 80 people.
In addition to the presentation of the awards to the authors, the afternoon was a celebration of Timorese arts and featured a theatrical performance by Klibur Artista no Muzika Timor-Leste (KAM-TL), poetry readings by Naldo Rei, Sandra Tilman, Osme and Mena Reis, and music from Mely and Abe Barreto.
The judges repeatedly commented on the high quality of entries and spoke at length about the difficulties in choosing between the top two contenders: Ha'u Maka Lucas by Teo Ximenes and Tinan Ikus iha Kolegio by Marci Fernandes. At the end of the day, however, the judges settled on Ha'u Maka Lucas - a coming of age story that takes place through and deals with some of the most violent periods of Timor-Leste's recent history - as the winner of the competition and the US$500 prize money. An additional US$800 in prize money was handed out to the runners up.
Project organisers were also very pleased to announce that funding has been secured from Timor Aid for the competition next year. Furthermore, the Alola Foundation has committed to provide additional funding for the Alola Prize, for the best female entry in the Istoria Timor competition starting in 2010.
Yet, the work of Istoria Timor in 2009 is far from over. Authors and project volunteers are still in talks with a range of local NGOs to secure funding and project management resources to print and distribute copies of a selection of the entries to schools and libraries all over the country. The hope is that funding can be secured for this and editing and layout can begin before December.
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