Twenty-eight winners in the Ninth International Literary Competition for the Blind were announced last night at a dinner sponsored by the Jewish Braille Institute of America. A total of $1,000 in prizes was awarded.
More than 600 contestants from 39 countries submitted manuscripts in 27 different languages, many in Braille, in the contest which is open to blind persons throughout the world, regardless of race, religion or nationality, Mrs. Louis J. Bieber, president of the Institute, told the dinner guests.
Representatives of embassies of India, Japan, Poland, Italy, Greece, Canada and Turkey accepted the awards for prize winners from their countries who could not attend the dinner.
The grand prize of $100 for poetry was awarded to Aldemaro Mannei of Florence, Italy. Second and third grand prize winners in poetry went to Manolis Kefakis of Athens, Greece, and Carmelite Janvier of New Orleans. The grand prize in fiction prose was won by Ryuhei Kimura of Tanabe City, Japan. The grand prize winner in non-fiction was captured by Pietro Pestelli of Florence, Italy.
The best foreign language entries in poetry were those of Salih Tuzun of Ankara, Turkey; Crimea Gambini of Asti, Italy; Karl-Heinz Haber of Hamburg, Germany, and B. R. Bhatt of Benares, India.
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