Laurel and Oak

This is the title of a small anthology of works from the invitational prose writing competition (2018) published in autumn 2019. The competition and the book were made possible thanks to the encouragement and support of the Veszprém City Commemorative Committee for the Centenary of the First World War. The book was preceded by the announcement of the competition and the award ceremony on 25 January 2019. This is why the booklet entitled Laurel and Oak contains the call for entries, which calls for prose works that recall the First World War through literature and preserve the memory of the tragedy.

The cover and images of the publication are based on works from the previous 2015 drawing and photography competition organised by the House of Arts Veszprém.

The winner of this competition was Erzsébet Éltető with her narrative Paper Soldiers. The second prize was awarded to Máté Zimonyi for his recollection of family memories entitled 100 Years of Serenity. Third on this step of the podium was a piece by Máté Csabai, entitled The Puppet Master.

We also considered it important to publish the other entries. On the one hand to show that the entries were all of high quality; on the other hand to make it clear to the reader why the ranking was chosen.

At the end of this volume we published a new competition on the theme of Trianon. We hope that anyone who comes across this book will be encouraged to take part in the new competition or recommend it to their friends and acquaintances. You may also recommend it because the Laurel and Oak is a testimony to the fact that we respect the participants in our competitions by publishing their works in a separate publication.