Magnesia Litera is an annual book award

Literary award

A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...

 held in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 since 2002. The prize covers all literary genres in eight genre categories: prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

, poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, children’s book

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 (since 2004), non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

, essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

/journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 (since 2007), translation

Translation

Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

, publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 achievement, book debut, and the main prize – one of the genre nominee is named the “Czech Book of the Year”.

The prize is awarded by an independent association Litera which associates members of all Czech literary or book-market organizations: Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The Academy is the leading non-university public research institution in the Czech Republic...

, Association of Booksellers and Publishers, Czech Centre of International PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

, Czech section of IBBY

International Board on Books for Young People

The International Board on Books for Young People is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland committed to bringing books and children together.-History:...

, Society of Czech Writers, Czech Translators’ Guild.

Books of the Year

• 2010 – Petra Soukupová: Zmizet
• 2009 – Bohumila Grögerová: Rukopis
• 2008 – Petr Nikl: Záhádky
• 2007 – Petru Cimpoeşu: Simion Liftnicul (translated from Romanian by Jiří Našinec)
• 2006 – Jan Reich: Bohemia
• 2005 – Jan Novák: Zatím dobrý (So Far So Good)
• 2004 – Jiří Suk: Labyrintem revoluce (Through the Labyrinth of Velvet Revolution) (non-fiction)
• 2003 – Pavel Zatloukal: Příběhy z dlouhého století – Architektura let 1750–1918 na Moravě a ve Slezsku (Stories from the Long Century: Moravian and Silesian Architecture 1790–1918) (non-fiction)
• 2002 – Jürgen Serke: Böhmische Dörfer (publishing achievement by Triada Publishing)