Uprisen: The Youth Literature Award
Uprisen was born in 2007, but has changed and developed throughout the years and looks very different now from what it did in the beginning. The award is made possible through a cooporation between Foreningen !les, The Cultural Schoolbag (DKS) in all regions and The Norwegian Festival of Literature.
The Nominating jury of 2024; Jakob Ohrem Bakke og Melat Hailu, Frida Emberland Fossland, Hedda Moen Gjerstad og Heidrun Margrete Brekke Kamfjord. Foto: Vibeke Røgler/Foreningen !les.
The Youth Literature Award (Uprisen-årets ungdomsbok) is the youths own award for the best youth book of the year, and it engages over 1200 pupils every year. Each autumn around 40 classes in middle school read and write reviews of all the Norwegian fiction for youth released the current year. These reviews are all published on denboka.no.
A screenshot of the youth’s own web page, denboka.no, where all the reviews are published.
Based on the reviews a jury of five youths nominate the five best books. Then eight different classes around Norway are through applications selected to read the nominated books. Every year in May during the Norwegian Festival of Literature at Lillehammer, two pupils from each class attend a jury meeting (The Grand jury) to represent their classes and discuss and decide which book will win The Youth Literature Award.
The winner of Uprisen 2024, Neda Alaei, on stage with the Grand Jury.
Uprisen’s main objective is to create positive experiences for pupils as readers and to create channels and arenas where they can read, write, and discuss books written for them. This way of working can establish a lifelong interest for literature among youths. The award’s ambition is to regard youths as readers who can develop their own meanings, criticism, and knowledge about literature. The price also increases the visability of youth literature. Because of Uprisen, all Norwegian fictional literature for youth receives reviews.
The four steps in Uprisen