The international jury of “A Sea of Words 2019” literary contest has announced the 10 best stories from the 12th edition of the Youth Euro-Mediterranean Literary Contest, which this year received up to 246 stories from young people from 26 countries.

Under the motto of this year’s edition, “Young People’s Commitment in Social Change”, the stories selected cover a wide range of topics, from the social mobilizations during the Arab Spring or the surge of protests in Algeria nowadays, to refugees struggling for a better life in Europe, LGBT population rights vindication, or the life and work expectations of young people and their hope in a better future against all odds.

The 10 best stories are: All must change (Akila Tchier –Algeria); The Heart of an Angel (Ahmed Abdelaty Hefny-Egypt); L’Assemblée (Hamoumi Ismail-France); No heroes (Ioulia Stamatopoulou-Greece); Graffiti (Sali Abu Kwaik-Jordan); Closets are meant for clothes (Dana Ozoliņa-Letonia); Do refugees have names? (Anna Romandash-Netherlands); The Invisible (Bartłomiej Juszczak-Poland); Living in a Beehive (Khamsa Harabi-Tunisia); The Spirit of the Revolution (Mouna Ammar-Tunisia).

All 10 winners will have their stories published in a digital anthology and will have the opportunity to visit Barcelona from 25 to 27 September to attend the official awards ceremony, where the 3 first prizes will be announced.

The contest is organised annually since 2018 by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) with the collaboration of the Anna Lindh Foundation.

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Press release