Concept

Prix Goncourt

Summary
The Prix Goncourt (Le prix Goncourt, lə pʁi ɡɔ̃kuʁ, The Goncourt Prize) is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but results in considerable recognition and book sales for the winning author. Four other prizes are also awarded: prix Goncourt du Premier Roman (first novel), prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle (short story), prix Goncourt de la Poésie (poetry) and prix Goncourt de la Biographie (biography). Of the "big six" French literary awards, the Prix Goncourt is the best known and most prestigious. The other major literary prizes include the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallié and the Prix Médicis. Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt. In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (1830–1870), the académie has awarded the Prix Goncourt every December since 1903. The jury that determines the winner meets at the Drouant restaurant in November to make its decision. Notable winners of the prize include Marcel Proust (In Search of Lost Time), Simone de Beauvoir (The Mandarins), André Malraux (Man's Fate) and Marguerite Duras (The Lover). The award was initially established to provide talented new authors with a monetary award that would allow them to write a second book. Today, the Goncourt has a token prize amount (around 10 euros), about the same amount given in 1903, and so the prestige of the prize has been explained not because of the cash-value of the prize, but "in terms of the tremendous book sales it effects: the Goncourt winner becomes an instant millionaire." Hervé Le Tellier's The Anomaly, which won the Goncourt in 2020, exceeded a million copies in less than a year after its publication.
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