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Literary contest honours text highlighting São Miguel as safe haven from war

The “Saudades da Terra” literary contests has awarded an honourable mention to the text titled as “A ilha de São Miguel é exactamente o local onde apetece voltar” (The island of São Miguel is exactly the place to where one would like to return), written by Anzhelika Chyrka, a Ukrainian citizen living on this Azorean island. Saudades da Terra” was launched by the Regional Government, through the Regional Directorate for the Communities, with the aim of promoting interculturality and encouraging greater knowledge about the immigrant communities in the Region, through literary texts written in the participants’ mother tongue. In this experimental edition, seven literary texts produced by immigrants from several countries were submitted to the jury, composed of writer Pedro Almeida Maia, poet Eleonora Marino Duarte and journalist Paulo Simões. The jury has decided to award an honourable mention to the aforementioned text as it is “a moving narrative about a safe haven from war. “Moreover, it is also a testimonial to immigration in the Azores” as well as “a personal perspective on the host land.” As regards the awarding of the contest prize, an air ticket for two people on any international route operated by SATA, the jury considered that there was no literary production of sufficient quality, and therefore unanimously decided not to award any of the texts in competition. As such, the Regional Directorate for the Communities and its partner, SATA, have decided that the same award will be valid for the second edition of the “Saudades da Terra” literary contest, scheduled for the first half of next year.