Best storytelling in pictures
The Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi Committee has announced the winner of the second edition of the award to acknowledge the best storytelling in pictures: Rebecca Dautremer, Un attimo soltanto [Une toute petite seconde], translation by Francesca Mazzurana (published by Rizzoli).
The committee gave the following explanation for its choice: Visually surprising, extraordinarily rich in detail, life and interwoven micro-narratives in which to lose oneself, Un attimo soltanto is a unique and disorientating work of publishing, a polyphonic narrative of dazzling beauty that offers an immensely enjoyable pause in which the pleasures of viewing the images and listening to the author’s measured words achieve a dynamic point of balance.
From a total of 33 titles proposed by the publishers, the Committee shortlisted the works: Nora Dåsnes, Nel mio cuore tempest [Ti kniver i hjertet], translation by Eva Valvo (Mondadori); Marion Kadi, Il riflesso di Harriet [Les Reflets d’Hariett], translation by Eleonora Armaroli (Terre di Mezzo); Malin Kivelä, Martin Glaz Serup, Se incontri un orso [Om du möter en björn], illustrations by Linda Bondestam, translation by Maria Valeria D’Avino (Iperborea).

The winner was announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2023, at the Illustrators Café, the ideal stage for an award that acknowledges the importance of images. The ceremony, which was presented by Marcella Terrusi, included speeches from the shortlisted authors (in-person and via video link) as well as Elena Pasoli (Exhibition Manager BolognaFiere), Stefano Petrocchi (Director of the Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci), Marino Sinibaldi (President of the Centre for Books and Reading) and Marco Maria Cerbo (Responsible for Italian training and education system in the world at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Also in attendance were the winning authors from the previous edition of the award: Mara Cerri and Antonia Murgo.
The award ceremony also included speeches from members of the prize committee Maria Greco, Martino Negri and Ilaria Tagliaferri.
The next appointment of the Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi will take place in May at the Turin International Book Fair (Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino), which will see the announcement of the longlist for the competition categories 6+, 8+, 11+, selected based on the books proposed by publishers, as well as the announcement of the winner of the Best Debut Book category.
The Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi is promoted by the Fondazione Maria e Goffredo Bellonci and Strega Alberti Benevento, the organisers of the Strega Prize, together with the Centre for Books and Reading and BolognaFiere-Bologna Children’s Book Fair in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Sistema della Formazione Italiana nel Mondo network of Italian cultural institutions around the world, BPER Banca and IBS.it.