The National Book Council is glad to announce that the adjudication board of the Malta Book Fund 2018–19 has decided and agreed on the winning submissions for the 2018–19 edition of the Fund. The winning projects have been chosen according to a set of pre-determined criteria, chief among which are the cultural value of the proposed publication, and the financing needs due to the specialised and noncommercial nature of the project. In other words, the Fund aims to support culturally significant projects that require funding if they are to be realised. Due to the high number of quality submissions in this edition of the Malta Book Fund, the judges also took into consideration each project value and, after an analysis of the budget attached to the submitted application, they allocated partial funds in a way that would allow the publication of each fully- or partly-funded project.

The adjudication board consisted of three judges – Mr Mario Ellul, Mr Andrei Vella Laurenti and Mr Charles Calleja. The judges’ report with a list of winners, recommendations for those who failed to get funding, and a set of comments by the judges will be sent to all applicants. It is important to note that failure to qualify does not bar the applicant from applying again during the next call for applications with the same project or a different one.

Following the selection process and the publication of the results, the NBC will be contacting the winning applicants for the signing of contracts, transfer of funds, and setting of time-frames and deadlines.

The following are the winning entries, all of which are for publication grants.

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Mintoff (1916-2012) – Biography (EN) by Mark Montebello
Applicant: Joseph Borg
Grant: € 5,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: A translation of The Diary of Anne Frank
Applicant: Joanne Micallef
Grant: € 4,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: A translation into English of Aenesidemus Vol. 1
Applicant: John Grech
Grant: € 4,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Il-Majjistra u t-twelid fil-komunità Maltija fis-seklu 20
Applicant: Janice Caruana
Grant: € 4,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Applicant: No Man’s Land: A journey around Marsamxett and the Grand Harbour
Applicant: Kristina Borg
Grant: € 4,000

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Bil-Bieb Mitbuq – a translation of Huis Clos
Applicant: Kevin Saliba
Grant: € 3,500

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Għaliex Commedia? Għaliex Malta?
Applicant: Narcy Calamatta
Grant: € 3,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Rakkont dwar tfal fi djar tat-tfal
Applicant: Sandra Hili Vassallo
Grant: € 2,500.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Appuntamenti / Repubblika Immakulata – Żewġ Drammi
Applicant: Simone Spiteri
Grant: € 2,500.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Beltin: Stejjer minn Nies Minsija
Applicant: Christopher Gruppetta
Grant: € 2,500.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Quest for the Maltese Żaqq: The Last of the Old Bagpipers
Applicant: Joseph Mizzi
Grant: € 2,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: L-Ispettur Bonnici – Triloġija ta’ Dramm
Applicant: Joseph Mizzi
Grant: € 2,000.00

Type of grant: Publication grant
Project title: Imħabba ta’ Swann – a translation of Un Amour de Swann
Applicant: Paul Zahra
Grant: € 1,000.00

The NBC would like to thank the members of the adjudication board, mentioned above, as well as all the authors, publishers and editors who submitted their work for funding.