Skopje, 22 November 2025 (MIA) - Researcher, publicist and poet Sevdail Demiri and author Resul Shabani are this year's recipients of the November 22 state award, presented in the Parliament on Saturday.

Demiri expressed gratitude for the recognition, presented by Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi, saying it capped his nearly 30-year work in the public domain.  

"The honor is even greater because this award is a symbol of the Albanian identity," said Demiri.

Shabani also thanked for the award, saying the "enlighteners" laid the foundations of the Albanian linguistic identity and the Albanian alphabet at the 1908 Bitola Congress.

The November 22 award is presented to individuals in the fields of politics, culture and society at large who have contributed to the promotion of coexistence and mutual understanding among members of different communities, cultures and religions in the country.

On 22 November 1908, renowned Albanian intellectuals from all over the Balkans had convened in Bitola at a conference to standardize the Albanian alphabet. Prior to the Congress, the Albanian language was represented by a combination of six or more distinct alphabets, plus a number of sub-variants.

Photo: MIA