Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Adnan Arnautlija
The Booktiga international festival of used books in Poreč each year awards the prize for the most popular Croatian books in Istria. The task for the agency was to create a reward for the author.
The books change and refine us. That is why the agency wanted to give the author something special: knowledge of how their work influenced the lives of those who actually awarded them – the readers. Additionally, a brand new statue wouldn’t fit into the image of a festival that is committed to reuse. Therefore, instead of a classic award, a copy of the award-winning book was sent to a one-month trip to the libraries of Istria, with the invitation to the readers to leave a comment for the author.
The book was then wrapped in a specially designed wrapper, made in multiple copies, which will cover all the editions of the award-winning book in the libraries across the region. As a reward, the author received a copy of their own book. In the spirit of the festival, the book is handed used, scribbled on, with signs of wear, but more valuable to the author than ever.
We talked about the Booktiga Award with its creators, Jelena Fiškuš and Sean Poropat, creative directors of Studio Sonda.
Our guiding thought was… that this is an annual award for the most popular writer in the city libraries of Istria. We thought about what would be really meaningful for the authors, and what would inspire them for further work, and what would also be special for the readers themselves. It is, after all, an award that the readers award, which is why it is more important to the authors than those given by literary critics. We knew that honest comments of those they address will always mean more to them than any statue or a medal.
The biggest problem we faced during the realization was… can’t think of any.
The greatest contribution of this campaign was … that it motivates authors and encourages them to continue creating, because they get the opportunity to see first hand how much their words affect the lives of their readers. And then they create new works, which reach new readers, and all of it becomes a very nice, positive, rounded story.
And it is special because… it directly connected the two sides: the one writing, and the one reading. They are eternally connected, one could not exist without the other, but this was the first time they had the opportunity to meet in this way, “face to face”.
When it comes to our project we are most proud of… the emotions it stirs among the authors, among readers, in us…
If we were to go from scratch… we could only hope that everything would turn out the same again.
Throughout the process we learned… that people are actually easy to move when you give them honest motivation. Initially, we couldn’t be certain how many of them would be ready to write their messages into the book, and the response actually surpassed even our most optimistic expectations.
What you certainly didn’t know… actually everyone probably knows this, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it: The greatest things are usually the simplest.
Apart from the award, we took home from BalCannes… great respect for some of the works selected into the Top 25.