By Chao Ching-Hwa (趙慶華)

Translated by Melanie A. Leng

Since 2005, NMTL has organized the Taiwan Literature Awards to nurture the creation of Taiwan literature and pay tribute to outstanding works. In early August, the ceremony for the 2024 Taiwan Literature Awards for Original Works was held. This year saw a total of 154 works submitted. After four rigorous rounds of review by 20 judges, 10 outstanding creators were selected as this year's winners.

The Taiwan Literature Awards for Original Works are awarded to select single-piece literary creations, while the Taiwan Literature Awards for Books are given to published books. The "Original Works" category is further divided into awards for Dramatic Script, Taiwanese Literature, Hakka Literature, and Indigenous Literature. Apart from the Dramatic Script category, the other three categories are further divided into Poetry, Prose, and Novel.

This year, the Taiwan Literature Award for Literature in Taiwanese received a total of 69 submissions, making it the largest category among the four major awards. The entries covered a diverse range of topics, fully reflecting contemporary issues ranging from the lives of the working class, such as those involved in fishing labor and rural rice harvesting cooperatives, to the latest topics on AI. Hakka literature often focuses on the living environments and generational experiences of the Hakka community, reflecting the significance of their history and ethnicity.

As for Indigenous literary works, the subjects are broad and diverse. Participants are generally younger creators, their entries incorporating topics that are less commonly addressed or have previously been considered taboo. Their perspectives provide readers with opportunities to understand the diverse Indigenous cultures in Taiwan and become more aware of their current situations and ongoing trends.

In contrast to the aforementioned language-specific awards, the Dramatic Script Award includes works written in Mandarin and other native languages of Taiwan, offering screenwriters a multilingual platform on which to compete. In recent years, both the number and quality of submissions have grown. The many scripts that are written entirely in non-Mandarin native languages reflect the abundant creative energy in Taiwan theater, spurred by various contemporary forms of entertainment.

The Taiwan Literature Awards, which were first held in 2005, have now reached their 20th anniversary. Throughout the various transformations of the Awards, they have consistently aimed to nurture creative talent. Their emphasis on native language literature has not only sparked a new trend of native language writing, but also preserved the cultural heritage embedded in the languages of Taiwan through each submitted work. Both emerging talent and seasoned writers alike are welcome to join in and continue strengthening the field of Taiwan literature. We also look forward to how the Taiwan Literature Awards for Original Works and the Awards for Books can complement each other and bring out their significance. This will foster the creation of more outstanding individual works that can then be published and recognized by the public.