Regulation
Premise
The City of Cuneo Award for the primo Romanzo was created with the aim of connecting readers with new voices in Italian-language fiction.
The initiative is promoted by the City of Cuneo, which organizes it through the Civic Library. The Award collaborates with the Cuneo Library System and the "Dante Alighieri" Association of Chambèry.
The following reading committees participate in the initiative:
– the city reading committee and the readers of the Cuneo Civic Library, which are responsible for selecting the winners of the adult section;
– secondary schools, which select the favorite author for the children's section;
– the Italianist reading committees associated with the Festival du Premier Roman in Chambèry, which select an author to be a guest at the same festival. These committees also contribute to selecting the winners of the Cuneo Prize.
The reading of the novels selected for the Cuneo City Award for the Primo Romanzo is open to anyone who wishes to participate informally.
Art. 1
Participation in the Prize is reserved for Italian authors (or authors of other nationalities who have published their debut novel in Italian).
Art. 2
Each new edition, which opens in November, includes the reading of novels published between October 1st of the previous year and September 30th. The XXIX edition (2026/2027), for example, begins in November 2026, reads novels published between October 1st, 2025, and September 30th, 2026, and concludes on June 30th, 2027.
Article 3:
Publishers or authors wishing to participate must submit the entry form (published on the website) by post or email to:
Organizing Secretariat for the “City of Cuneo Award for the Primo Romanzo”
c/o Civic Library – Via Cacciatori delle Alpi 9 – 12100 Cuneo CN.
For information, please contact the Library Director, Dr. Stefania Chiavero:
T. 0171.444.640, E. primoromanzo@comune.cuneo.it, I. www.primoromanzo.cuneo.it
Article 4:
By October, the organizing secretariat will compile a list of debut novels it has learned
about through reviews in newspapers, magazines, and websites, recommendations from publishers, and individual authors or readers. After that date, the list of novels will not be updated.
Art. 5
The novels included in the list are submitted to a selection committee for reading, which identifies 25 to 30 works to be subsequently assigned to adult reading committees and 6 works for school reading committees.
Article 6:
The organization will purchase a copy of the selected novels for each of the committees responsible for selecting the winners, and a copy of the six novels for schools for each class that registers by the deadline (November 30). Each reader participating in the initiative is asked to complete a simple reading form, on which they must rate the novel positively or negatively. The reading forms are collected on June 30. Based on the forms completed by the adult readers, a ranking is drawn up, from which the winning novel and two shortlisted novels are selected. The fourth shortlist comes from the ranking based on the reading forms completed by the high school students.
Article 7:
The award given to the first-place author (defined as the author who receives the highest number of positive reader reviews) consists of a prize of €1,000.00.
The winner and the three nominated authors receive a free stay in Cuneo during the final days of the Award, which take place in November during the scrittorincittà event.
During this event, meetings are organized with readers from the various committees, as well as an evening during which the winner is awarded an award and presented with a commemorative plaque. Failure to confirm attendance during the final days will automatically result in the award being given to the author who is next in line in the reading committees' and library readers' rankings, as well as
in the school rankings.
The French readers' committees will select the novel that received the most praise from among the novels participating in the Città di Cuneo Award for Primo Romanzo. The author is invited to participate in the final days of the Festival du Premier Roman de Chambéry (held in May or June).
Article 8
requires authors or publishers to:
– report debut novels published between October 1st of the previous year and September 30th by September;
– submit a copy of novels falling within the above-mentioned period;
– complete and submit the entry form.
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