Skopje, 2 March 2026 (MIA) — Eleven novels published in 2025 have made the shortlist for the Slavko Janevski Foundation's 27th Novel of the Year award, contest organizers said Monday.

According to their press release, a panel of five judges chose the following 11 books published in 2025 from the 46 entries submitted this year:

1. "Alexander Rides West" by Venko Andonovski,
2. "The Returnee with Two Faces" by Ivica Chelikovikj,
3. "The Thirteenth" by Lidija Dimkovska,
4. "Just One More Leap" by Enis Hilmi,
5. "Unpublished Feuilleton" by Vladimir Ilievski,
6. "Three Marys" by Olivera Kjorveziroska,
7. "Ilina and the Secrets of Baba's Tooth" by Hana Korneti,
8. "Eleven Proven Ways to Fuck Up Love" by Dragana Lukan Nikoloski,
9. "Zara Zarina" by Liljana Pandeva,
10. "Crooked Diana" by Frosina Parmakovska, and
11. "Phobos: A Deconstructed Novel" by Sonja Stankovska.

The panel consists of last year's winner and this year's panel chair Kalina Maleska; Ivan Antonovski; Ivana Trajanoska; Ivan Shopov; and Slavko Janevski Foundation representative Katerina Bogoeva.

The winner will be announced at a press conference on March 13.

Komercijalna Banka and the Ministry of Culture are sponsoring the annual award, which consists of a statuette, a plaque and Mden 150,000.

Between 1999 and 2017, the Novel of the Year award was given by Utrinski vesnik. After the newspaper’s demise, the Slavko Janevski Foundation took over the book contest. mr/