After Ranko Jovović, the literary award "Seal of the town of Sremsko-Karlovica" goes to Montenegro for the second time. This time in the hands of the poet Milica Bakrač from Nikšić, and her book of selected and new poems "Bird Feeder" was awarded.
The jury unanimously decided that this year's winners of the award for the best book of poetry this year, in addition to Milica Bakrač, will be Todor Bjelkić, Valentina Milačić, Damir Malešev, Igor Mirović, Barbara Novaković i Mileta Lisica, while for the first time the award for the overall work was awarded to the famous poet Pero Zupac.
The prize is awarded by the "Branko Kolo" Foundation, a cultural institution from Sremski Karlovac that preserves the memory of Branko Radičević and his work, and the prize awarded in the year of the celebration of two centuries since his birth will be ceremonially presented to the laureates at the "Spring Branko days 2025" in Sremski Karlovac, in the oldest Serbian high school.
"This rich selection of poetry shows the genesis of the poetic growth and maturation of Milica Bakrač, who kept her author's stamp in all the books, primarily in the defense of the roots of the Serbian being, language, writing, Christian learning and faith, and with them faith in man, but and faith in the power of the poetic word' (Z. Đerić)... Milica Bakrač's poetry is rich in music thanks to well-tended rhyme and meter (most often octet, ten: symmetrical and asymmetrical, and twelve), all in the form of quatrains, sonnets and sonnet wreaths . A special craft feature of this poetry can be seen in the consistently embroidered acrostics in the sonnets, and, what is important to point out, in the sonnet wreath 'Wreath to the Wreath', it was stated in the explanation of the jury for awarding the award.
In addition to Bakrač, the "Seal of the town of Sremsko-Karlovica" award for the best book was also awarded to Milica Bakrač. She has published more than ten collections of poetry, and is represented in several anthologies of poetry for adults and children in the Serbian-speaking world. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Writers of Montenegro, a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia, the Literary Society of Serbian Writers of Kosovo and Metohija and the "Njegoš" Literary Society from Montenegro.
Next year, "Brank's Circle" will mark the 190th anniversary of Radičević's arrival at the Karlovac High School.
"The Seal of the Town of Sremsko-Karlovica", as the organizers pointed out, has been going on for 57 years and is one of the oldest and most prestigious poetry awards in Serbia and the region.
"What Vuk's award is in terms of its concept on the overall cultural scene, it is the 'Seal of the town of Sremsko-Karlova' on the poetic scene," they stated.
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