Peking University, April 21, 2017: On the afternoon of April 20th, 2017, the press conference of Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize was held at the Sunshine Hall of Yingjie Exchange Center at Peking University. During the press conference, relevant information and the official call for entries of the new Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize were released. Cao Wenxuan, the famous writer who won the Hans Christian Andersen Award last year, Zhang Jiankang, the Chairman of Phoenix Publishing & Media Group, and Wang Bo, the Assistant President of Peking University, attended the conference.
The establishment of Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize was inspired by Cao Wenxuan’s winning the Hans Christian Andersen Award last year. It aims at accelerating the development of Chinese children’s literature. The prize is supported by the Publicity Ministry of Jiangsu Province Council and Peking University, and jointly held by Phoenix Publishing & Media Group, Jiangsu Writers’ Association and Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University.
Cao Wenxuan delivering a speech
The press conference was presided over by Han Songlin, the Council Chairman of Jiangsu Writers’ Association. At the beginning of the conference, Cao Wenxuan delivered a speech of appreciation to all those who contributed to the establishment of the prize. He emphasized that, although the Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize was named after him, the prize was indeed not a symbol of personal accomplishment. Instead, it is set up to accelerate the development of children’s literature in China.
Afterwards, She Jiangtao, the chief editor of Phoenix Publishing & Media Group, was invited to introduce some relevant information of the prize on behalf of the prize committee. She gave a brief overview of the inspiration and aims of the prize. According to She, the prize is aimed at encouraging more Chinese writers to work on children’s literature, cultivating more young talents in this literary domain, pushing the original Chinese children’s literature for international recognition and building up a leading cultural platform connecting writing, publishing, marketing, translation and communication together. She announced that the call for entries of the first Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize was from April 20th, 2017 to October 20th, 2017 and the final results would be released in November. In addition, the general prize would be distributed into two categories, the Prize for Writers as well as the Prize for Teenagers, which were targeted at long novel writers above 18 years old and short story writers below 18 respectively. Writers should be recommended to have their works submitted by literary organizations or primary and middle schools in Jiangsu except that those who lived in Jiangsu were permitted to submit works by themselves.
Later, Wang Bo and Gao Hongbo, the director of the Prize Committee, both gave speeches on their expectations from the prize. They expected that the prize would be capable of shouldering the responsibility of developing Chinese children’s literature and being inherited year by year.
After the four speeches, the sponsor answered several questions raised by reporters on the spot. When a reporter from Reading Magazine asked what characteristics of works would be especially valued, Han Songlin answered that the prize committee would be inclined to award those works of positive values. Besides, awarded works are supposed to be both thoughtful and artistic, in addition to being combinations of the Chinese style and international horizons.
According to Han Songlin, outstanding children’s literature works would be able to purify readers’ minds and play an important role in helping teenagers to form correct life values. He believed that Cao Wenxuan Children’s Literature Prize would be capable of leading to a more prosperous stage in the field of Chinese children’s literature.
Reported by: Zheng Yuan
Edited by: Xu Liangdi
