The ASSESTA – Alentejo Writers Association, one of the entities responsible for the award, announced that registrations for the 5th edition of the initiative are open until March 31, 2026.
“This award, held biennially, aims to promote, defend, and value the Portuguese language and the cultural identity and diversity of the Alentejo region, encouraging literary creation in the novel category,” the statement reads.
Established in 2017, the contest also pays tribute to Alentejo novelist and short story writer Joaquim Mestre and aims to foster a love of reading and writing, according to the organization.
The award is the result of a partnership between ASSESTA, the Alentejo Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR), and the Beja City Council.
In this 5th edition, authors “over 18 years old, Portuguese or foreigners residing in Portugal,” are eligible to participate.
According to ASSESTA, each participant may only submit a “single work” of fiction in the novel category, with themes directly related to the Alentejo region being preferred.
“The main change in this 5th edition is that the originals will now be submitted in digital format,” the association revealed.
The winner will have their work published “by a leading publisher” and will receive a monetary prize of 3,000 euros.
Joaquim Mestre, born in the parish of Trindade, municipality and district of Beja, was born on February 9, 1955, and passed away in Lisbon on May 3, 2009.
With a degree in History and a postgraduate degree in Documentary Sciences, he was a librarian and director of the José Saramago Municipal Library in Beja.
Throughout his career, he contributed decisively to creating a new paradigm for library services in Portugal and placing Beja and Alentejo on the map of the Portuguese cultural and literary universe, according to ASSESTA.
Joaquim Mestre is the author of several works, including ‘The Book of Forgetfulness: Tales of the Wonderful and the Supernatural’, ‘The Blind Woman of the Boiro House’, ‘The Perfumer’, ‘The Imperfection of Love’, and ‘Breviary of Souls’, the latter awarded the Manuel da Fonseca Prize.
The winner of the 4th edition of the Joaquim Mestre Literary Prize, announced in April last year, was António Canteiro (the literary pseudonym of João Carlos Costa da Cruz), with the novel ‘Inventor of Forgetfulness’.
On April 12 of this year, the Portuguese Society of Authors (SPA) announced that writer António Canteiro won the SPA Authors Prize 2025 in the category of Best Narrative Fiction Book with ‘Inventor of Forgetfulness’ (Gradiva).
