Literary Awards

The Prix Femina is a literary prize, established in 1904 by writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse (today known as Femina). The prize honors French-language works written in prose or verse, by both women and men but the jury is exclusively female. The winner is announced annually on the first Wednesday of November.

The Prix Médicis is awarded annually in November to an author who has not yet achieved the prestige commensurate with their talent. The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language and was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. In 1970 the Prix Médicis étranger was added to recognize a book published in translation and later an award for non-fiction works like essays was added.

The Prix Goncourt is a French literary prize awarded by the Académie Goncourt since 1903. Originally honoring only the best French-language novel of the year, the Prix Goncourt is now also awarded in four other categories. Although today it is only endowed with symbolic 10 EUR, the Prix Goncourt is highly regarded among authors because it has a strong influence on the sales success of their work.

The Prix Décembre is a French literary prize awarded annually since 1989 for a novel, short story or essay in French. The winner is chosen by a jury of twelve, whose members change regularly. Due to the changing patrons, the prize money has decreased in the last years, since 2021 the prize is endowed with 15,000 EUR.

The Prix Renaudot was created in 1926 by journalists and literary critics and named after Théophraste Renaudot, founder of La Gazette (an influential weekly newspaper). The Renaudot literary prize is awarded annually at a ceremony in a Parisian restaurant to the author of an outstanding original novel published during the previous year. There are also prizes in different categories like essay, paperback and a readers’ prize for high school students.