Best Student Essay Competition
One of the key genres of Václav Havel’s work is essays – on literary, artistic, social, political, and spiritual topics. His essays, such as the The Power of the Powerless and A Word About Words, have become classic texts of Czech literature; they have been translated into tens of languages, and are among the few truly world-famous works of Czech culture. This is also why it is necessary to keep cultivating the essay genre in the Czech language – not in the sense of imitating Václav Havel’s writing, but in the spirit of his courage to name unpleasant problems and search for unconventional solutions to them. For this reason, the Václav Havel Library is announcing the next year of the literary competition for secondary students: the Václav Havel Library Prize for Best Student Essay.
The theme and the deadline for eleventh year (2019) will be announced in August/September 2019.
Please, send the texts, written in the Czech language, in extent from 9,000 up to 18, 000 characters (five to ten standard pages), bearing the author’s name, year of birth, and name of the secondary school, electronically to the e-mail address esej@vaclavhavel-library.org.
Essays will be examined by the jury composed of Czech cultural figures close to Václav Havel. The first prize is CZK 15,000, the second prize CZK 10,000 and the third prize CZK 5,000. The competition results will be announced and prizes awarded in the premises of the Václav Havel Library in the Václav Havel Library "Club", Ostrovní 13, Prague 1 in December 2018.
Here you can see how the last year was:
This competition is supportedy by the Ministry of culture of the Czech Republic and Czech and Slovak Century project
Archive
Ceremonial Announcement of Essay Competition Winners
06/12/18 16:30 – 06/12/18 19:00, Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
10th year (2018)
Is He Who Has Most Likes Right?
07/12/17 16:30 – 07/12/17 18:00, Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
9th year (2017)
Dear Mr. President
07/12/16 17:00 – 07/12/16 19:00, Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
8th year (2016)
Is There Room in the Czech Republic for People of Different Cultures and Religions?
16/12/15 18:30 – 16/12/15 19:30, Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
7th year (2015)
What Vision Does Contemporary Europe Have and What Vision Should it Have?
15/12/14 17:00 – 15/12/14 18:00, Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
6th year (2014)
Is idealism a position for this world?
16/12/13 19:00 – 16/12/13 21:00, Vaclav Havel Library, Řetězová 7, Prague
5th Year (2013)
How do you imagine the Czech president?
December 2012, Montmartre Gallery
4th Year (2012)
Freedom of speech and modern communication technologies - two sides of the same coin?
22/12/11 18:00 – 22/12/11 20:00, Montmartre Gallery
3rd Year (2011)
What remains absurd and what cannot be ridiculed anymore?
16/11/10 19:00 – 16/11/10 21:00, Montmartre Gallery
2nd Year (2010)
Twenty Years of Freedom from Socialism
25/11/09 18:00 – 01/02/15 21:00, Montmartre Gallery
1st Year (2009)