Ridvan Dibra, winner of the first Prize in the competition ‘Katarina Josipi’ for the Albanian drama

Ridvan Dibra with the drama ‘World War the Third’ won the first prize in the Competition for Original Albanian Drama. While Mentor Haliti with the drama ‘Factory of the dolls’ is the winner of the second prize, whereas Naser Shatrolli with the drama ‘Cassettes’, was announced as the winner of the third prize.

The ceremony of awarding the prizes was held in the National Theatre of Kosovo, organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. The prizes from this year on are institutionalised pursuant to a special regulation by MCYS. Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Memli Krasniqi in this ceremony stated that these prizes are awarded for the honour of the great actress Katarina Josipi and they are also an appreciation for the work of nowadays’ creators in dramaturgy.

“Katarina Josipi did not live long, but her activity was an entire life. She played many roles and really lived in the theatre. Katarina played with many other actors, and that contributed to making that time they lived a golden era of the theatre and the art in general.

The work of Katarina and of her friends made Kosovo an important centre of art at that time, and also her work and the work of many others served as inspiration for many generations of art in Kosovo”, Minister Krasniqi said. In addition, he stated that MCYS founded prizes in all fields of art aiming at honouring and appreciating the work of artists.

Thanking the jury for facilitating the awarding of these prizes, Minister said that it has been quite encouraging the fact that more than 40 applications were submitted.
“There is no doubt that the three selected dramas are an impersonation of a great passion for drama”, he stated.

Ridvan Dibra, the winner of the first prize said that Kosovo has greatly honoured its’ creation. Moreover he stated that founding the prizes shows the respect for the artist. Dibra further added that he expects that the drama besides the critique from the art lovers be welcomed also by the public.

The president of jury, Ag Apolloni stated that the selected works are quite interesting ones and they bear values. He called the fact that a lot of competition emerged a quite significant one, what according to him testifies about the work and the will of the artists to create.

The prizes for the original Albanian drama bear monetary value too. The first prize is awarded the amount of € 3600, the second one € 2400, whereas the third prize was awarded with € 1200.

The following were members of the jury this year: Ag Apolloni, Burbuqe Berisha, Liri Cami, Emin Emini and Ismet Azemi.