In the Association of Serbian Writers, on France 7 street, the prize "Radoje Domanovic" for 2018 was awarded. In the category of foreign satirists ("The Excellency Satire "), this oldest and most prestigious international recognition for humor and satire in the Balkan and wider areas was given to Dragan Koprivica by one of the world's leading aphorists, Aleksandar Cotric from Belgrade.
Koprivica received the prize for the book of aphorisms "Etida in CG-mol" in the edition of one of the most prominent Montenegrin publishers, Podgorica's "Unirex".
The winners were decided by the Jury made of the following members: Radomir Andric (president) and Milovan Vitezovic, Petar Zebeljan, Vitomir Teofilovic, Sladjana Mitrovic, Radoslav Tilger and Aleksandar Cotric.
In his greeting speech, Koprivica emphasized that he was honored to receive the UKS prize with the name of the creator of the Serbian allegorical satirical story and that he is impressed with the composition of the eminent Jury, which consists of aphorists and satirists of the highest level. Therefore, it is not surprising, as he stated, that Serbia took over the baton of aphorisms in the world, and on that occasion he assessed:
Serbian aphorisms today are the greatest achievement, and as ballistic spiritual missiles, after the launch from Serbia, they can fly around the entire planet, and with a high degree of precision in return, hit any neuralgic point in the territory of Serbia. But, despite that, Serbia remains a great secret, and Montenegro has already been disclosed."
He also noted that he was honored that he is one of the laureates of the "Radoje Domanović" prize for foreign satirists, with winners from Poland, Russia, and Macedonia, with the remark that he felt like a guest in Serbia, but also as a local, and that a category "guests as locals" should be created.
At the same time, Koprivica warmly thanked the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, and the Commission for co-financing projects in the field of art, which for several years now, because of political inadequacy, has not been given him any financial support for various legal tricks, and "Etida in CG-Mol" received a great international recognition.
That is why he will send a copy of the book with a dedication to the Ministry of Culture in Cetinje, as a thank-you note for the unperformed financial support.
In his address to the Jury and the present authors he read his aphorism:
"There is no need to separate grain from the weed everywhere: the weed got separated by itself, standing against the grain under the grain, it stood at the forefront of the grain."
After awarding the prize, Koprivica said to the Jury, Aleksandar Cotric, that his colleagues from Montenegro saw him as a world-class aphorist, and wished him new accomplishments in this genre, made only by the selected ones.
Text by CdM, on February 26th, 2019, read more at CdM
