YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS. Edward Militonyan, president of Armenia’s Union of Writers, has been nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Children’s Literature.

The Award is bestowed every two years on April 2 – the birthday of Andersen. This project of the international awards is carried out by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

Ruzan Tonoyan, president of IBBY Armenia office, told a press conference 77 countries are members of the structure, each having its own national committee.

Armenia is a member of IBBY since 2012 and for the first time an Armenian writer has been nominated for the award.

“We presented Edward Militonyan’s candidacy and 33 writers from representatives of 77 countries passed to the competitive stage, including Edward Militonyan. The winner will be chosen from this 33, who will be given the Andersen Award next year”, Tonoyan said.

The candidate must meet certain reqirements to be eligible for nomination. The writer must be the author of at least 10 books with various translations available, the candidate must be the laureate of other awards and be a creative and active writer.

Edward Militonyan, president of Armenia’s Union of Writers, said nominating a candidate from Armenia for such a prestigious award is an important achievement for the country.

“It’s not important who has been presented, or that I have been included. The important thing is that for the first time the name Armenia is heard among various big countries. Armenia, as a literary country, we must be able to present to the world, make it recognizable. We must show that serious literature is published in Armenia”, he said.

Militonyan said Armenia has little experience in the process of participating in international awards.

According to him, it is necessary to support publishing of literary materials and their dissemination in various countries.

“The possibilities which we are using, I believe, are still little, in order to be able to decently spread our works in the international arena. Good translations must be carried out, which isn’t easy. Unique approach is required for translating children’s literature, one must find the equivalent while translating. In this context the work of translators gets difficult, and there is still lot to do”, Militonyan said.

The IBBY was founded in Zurich in 1953. The

The Hans Christian Andersen Award will be held in 2018 during the annual IBBY conference in Istanbul.