Ksaver Šandor Gjalski Award
Ksaver Šandor Gjalski was a pseudonym of the writer Ljubo Babić, who was born in Gredice near Zabok on 26 October, 1854.
Ksaver Šandor Gjalski Literary Award was established in 1979 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his birth.
At the beginning Gjalski Award was conceived to honour emerging fiction writers' unpublished works every two years, but in 1985 it became an annual literary award and has since been a prominent and prestigious acknowledgement of writers of the best published fiction works in the Republic of Croatia.
The determination of award recipients is made by the literary committee consisting of five members (three representatives of Croatian Writers’ Guild and two literature teachers from Zabok). The award includes a medallion with Gjalski’s image, a certificate and prize money.
Gjalski Award is given by Croatian Writers’ Guild and the prize money by the Ministry of Culture, Krapina-Zagorje County and the cities of Poreč and Crikvenica. The initial idea of the literary award has evolved into a cultural event with a variety of programs.
The Days of K.Š. Gjalski Cultural Event is held every year in late October, during the week around Gjalski’s birthday. Numerous exhibitions, concerts, plays, book promotions and workshops, and most importantly the Gjalski Award ceremony are organized during this week.
Apart from "the Great" Gjalski Award, there are also awards given to elementary and high school students, established as an incentive to children and the youth in their creative endeavours through fiction. Small Gjalski Award has been given since 1985 for the best short fiction written by elementary school students from Croatian Zagorje. High School and Grammar School Gjalski Award has been given to students from Krapina-Zagorje County since 1994 but it extended to Varaždin County in 2003.
Inspired by these student awards, sister cities of Poreč and Crikvenica have established similar awards. All the awarded works are published in a joint book PoZiCa — a collection of literary and art works of Poreč, Zabok and Crikvenica students.