Celebrated for the first time on the 5th and May 2020, World Portuguese Language Day will be marked by the launch of a literary contest that aims to reward the best short stories written in the language.
Five categories will be considered: according to age (from 8 to 14 years old and from 15 years old) and according to the levels of language proficiency of the students, according to the organizers.
The individual works must be delivered until January 30, 2021. The winning stories will be announced on May 5, 2021, in the second celebration of World Portuguese Language Day.
It is estimated that young people from 76 countries are currently studying Portuguese.
Portuguese: a plural language
The contest “Tales of the World Day of the Portuguese Language”, is an initiative of Instituto Camões, Porto Editora and the National Reading Plan (an initiative of the government of Portugal) and challenges Portuguese students to write an unprecedented story, one to three pages.
“The competition aims not only to stimulate language skills but to support dialogue and the encounter between cultures, thus reinforcing two fundamental dimensions of the celebration of the World Day of the Portuguese Language: the affirmation of Portuguese as an international communication language and as a language plural, bridges and meetings ”, stresses the president of the Instituto Camões, Luís Faro Ramos”.
A historic date
The date was celebrated more than a decade ago by the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). In November last year, it was ratified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), following a proposal submitted by all Portuguese-speaking countries, and supported by 24 other states.
Spoken by more than 260 million people on five continents (3.7% of the world’s population and fourth with the most speakers in the world), Portuguese is the official language of the nine CPLP member countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea- Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste) and Macau, as well as the working or official language of a number of international organizations such as the European Union, African Union and Mercosur.