The scene in the west courtyard of Xiaoliubukou Hutong was no different from a week ago. The only difference was that the atmosphere seemed to be more tense.

In the final selection, the jury still adopts a relative majority voting system. Each judge has 2 votes, which can be voted for the work of their choice.

The first thing to do is the voting for the Best Short Story Award. 50 judges' votes are allocated to 5 works. Since it is a selection, it is naturally impossible to average.

At the end of one round of voting, Zhahidawa's "Soul Tie on a Leather Cord Buckle" led with 18 votes.

The judges were a little surprised to see such a result. The five shortlisted novels were all works of above standard. Naturally, there could not be such a big gap in votes based on the level alone.

Such a result can only show that "The Soul Tie on the Leather Buckle" has indeed moved everyone.

"The Soul Tied to the Leather Cord Buckle" is an imaginative work that tells the story of hunter Tabe who obtained the Dzi Bead and was told by HF to send it to the palm of Padmasambhava to atone for his sins.

Tarbet embarks on a journey, during which the shepherd Joan falls in love with him and follows him, and a psychic mute boy named Pu travels with him.

Ta Bei had a feud, and his enemy Guo Ri wanted to kill him to seize the Dzi Bead, so they pursued him all the way. After going through many hardships and dangers, they finally arrived at the palm print to complete their mission.

During this period, the writer Gedan has been looking for Tabei, who "resurrected from the dead" in his novel.

The whole story shuttles between reality and fantasy, integrating XZ regional characteristics and religious mystery elements. It has a flavor of magical realism and well reflects the history and culture of XZ. Last year, it won the 7th National Outstanding Short Story Award.

Later, this novel was adapted into the movie "The Soul on the Leather Rope" by director Zhang Yang.

The best short story was announced, the judges whispered among themselves for a while, and then came the voting for the best novella.

After a while, the results were announced, and Mo Yan's "Red Sorghum" won the first place with 12 votes.

Judging from the number of votes, compared to the competition for the best short story, the competition for the best novella is undoubtedly much more intense.

This result is not surprising to everyone. Let’s not mention how well written “Red Sorghum” was. Just the fact that the film adaptation won the highest honor at China’s first three major European film festivals is a big bonus.

The voting for the best short story and the best novella was over, and only the final best novel was left. The judges couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Novel has always been the jewel in literary awards. Looking at literary awards at home and abroad, they are basically based on novels.

Many judges wrote the names of their favorite works on paper and solemnly handed them over to the scrutineers.

Five minutes later, the voting ended, and the names of the five shortlisted novels were arranged on the blackboard from high to low. Many judges looked at the final result with stunned faces.

In addition to the judges and notary office personnel present at today's selection, there was also Tang Dacheng, the leader of the Cultural Association.

Kong Luosun, editor-in-chief of "Literary News", Liu Xinwu, editor-in-chief of "People's Literature", Qin Chaoyang, editor-in-chief of "Contemporary", and more than a dozen heavyweights in the Yenching literary circle.

In addition to these people, the jury also invited reporters from "People's Daily" and "Literary News". These two newspapers will serve as the authoritative release channels for the results of the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award.

When the jury evaluates the awards, these guests and reporters also attend.

The results of the selection of the best short story and the best novella just now were within everyone's expectations. Even though "The Soul Tie on a Leather Cord Buckle" received more votes, everyone understood it better.

But when this scene happened in front of them, everyone felt a little uncomfortable with it.

"Why did "The Ordinary World" have the same votes as "The Ancient Ship"?"

"'Muslim Funeral' is a pity, it only missed one vote."

The guests present couldn't help but discuss, forming a slight noise.

Not only them, but also some of the judges did not accept the votes for "Ordinary World" very well.

During the previous month's reading and discussion, the judges had a strong idea of ​​all the nominated works.

Especially after the five shortlisted works were voted on last week, the vast majority of people mentioned the long-form works they would vote for in the end, and "The Ancient Ship" and "Muslim Funeral" were the ones that appeared most frequently.

Therefore, in the minds of many people, it is almost acquiesced that the best novel this year may be between "Muslim Funeral" and "The Ancient Ship".

But the current situation is that among the five shortlisted works on the blackboard, "The Ordinary World" and "The Ancient Ship" tied for first place with the same 13 votes, and "Muslim Funeral" ranked second with 12 votes.

.

This also means that "Muslim Funeral" will not be eligible for the Best Novel Award, and the award will be awarded to "The Ordinary World" and "The Ancient Ship".

"The Ordinary World" has not received a good reputation among critics since it was published. Several judges who were critics looked at their colleagues around them suspiciously.

If we hadn't been getting along day and night for a month, they wouldn't have been able to help but wonder if there was something fishy going on.

Now is the critical moment of selection, and they don't have time to guess what went wrong.

"The Ordinary World" and "The Ancient Ship" had a tie and tied for first place, triggering the second round of voting.

This time, a majority vote system is adopted, each judge has one vote, it is either this or that, a total of 25 votes, the winner must be decided.

After voting again, the support rates of the two works seem to be about the same. The number of votes increases alternately.

After the 24th vote was sung, the blackboard magically showed that "Ordinary World" and "Ancient Ship" were tied again.

In other words, the 25th vote in the hand of the vote-singer Xiao Zhao will determine the winner of this year’s Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award for Best Novel.

Nearly forty pairs of eyes fell on Xiao Zhao, which made him feel a little nervous. His eyes were fixed on the words on the note, for fear that he would read or pronounce it wrongly.

In the eyes of everyone as if they were real, he read with difficulty: "Lu Yao's "Ordinary World", 1

ticket."

The time and space at the scene seemed to have stopped at a certain moment, and many people watched in disbelief as the vote counter drew the last vote for "The Ordinary World".

No matter how much some people may not believe it, the voting for all three awards of the Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award has ended, and the entire process is open to the public and is beyond reproach.

While everyone was discussing, Lin Chaoyang knocked on the table and reminded: "Mr. Feng, please announce the final result."

Feng Mu is nearly eighty years old and is used to big storms. An award is nothing exciting for him.

He nodded and said "OK".

Then he stood up slowly, looked around the scene with his eyes, showing a trace of majesty, and said in a solemn tone:

"I would like to announce that the Best Short Story Award of the first Zhuang Chongwen Literary Award is won by "The Soul Tie on the Leather Cord Buckle", written by Tashi Dawa;

The Best Novella Award was won by "Red Sorghum", written by Mo Yan;

The Best Novel Award was won by the first and second parts of "The Ordinary World", written by Lu Yao.

The selection process for this award is fair and impartial. Thank you all for your hard work over the past month.

Thank you everyone!」

As Feng Mu finished speaking, there was a burst of warm applause.

Although today's award results were a bit surprising to some people, everyone witnessed the working attitude and professionalism of the jury throughout the entire process, and this result deserves recognition.

After the warm applause, Feng Mu pressed his hands, maintained order at the scene, and handed over some information.

Including the channel and time for the results to be announced, the method of notifying the winners, the time and location of the awards, and many other matters, he finally announced the end of today's awards meeting.

After the serious awards meeting ended, everyone finally had the opportunity to communicate freely. Zhu Zhai couldn't wait to ask:

"Who voted for "The Ordinary World"?"

He knew that it was inappropriate to ask this question on such an occasion. The jury voted anonymously, but there was no requirement that everyone have to announce their choice after voting.

Everyone looked at each other, hesitantly.

Upon seeing this, Lin Chaoyang said: "I voted."

Zhu Zhai couldn't help but ask: "You haven't even finished writing "The Ordinary World," so you're not afraid of winning the award and causing controversy?"

"Is there any controversy in the awards? I don't think "The Ordinary World" can win the award. I think "The Ancient Ship" can win the award. The other vote is useless anyway, so I voted for "The Ordinary World"

.”

When Lin Chaoyang said this, he looked around everyone, "I guess there may be many people here who have the same mentality as me, right?"

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's question, many people present nodded.

When Zhu Zhai saw this scene, he couldn't help but put his hand on his forehead, "Oh my God! So you say that "The Ordinary World" has won a big prize?"

At this time, Li Shifei said: "It doesn't count as winning the grand prize. After all, there is still a second round of voting. "The Ordinary World" can be regarded as a model of getting better. At least I voted for it sincerely."

Zhu Zhai knew he had made a mistake, but he was even more curious. Even if there was luck in the first round, why did "The Ordinary World" win over "The Ancient Ship" in the second round?

Now that the conversation has started, no one has any worries.

After some communication, Zhu Zhai found out that "The Ancient Ship" had some voting advantages among the judges such as writers, editors, critics, and scholars, overpowering "The Ordinary World". The two votes were 10:6.

.

But among the judges of filmmakers, dramatists, and readers, "The Ancient Ship" scored 2:7 against "The Ordinary World"

"Ordinary World" has an absolute advantage.

In this way, there was a situation where "Ordinary World" reversed the situation and won the award.

Lu Xu finally said something, he said:

"I think these five shortlisted novels are all very well written. Unlike the teachers here, I don't have such a high level of literary literacy. I can't analyze them so thoroughly as to how good they are and what they are good about.

In fact, I was very conflicted a few days ago, but later it was Lao Wang’s words that inspired me.

Since the jury has chosen me to be the judge, it must be that I make this decision from my own standpoint.

Frankly speaking, among these five novels, "The Ordinary World" has the deepest impression on me, because it is the most relevant to my situation and heart.

So I finally chose it firmly!"

For Lu Xu, the experience of being a judge for the Zhuang Chongwen Literature Award was not only an introduction to the world, but also a valuable life experience.
To be continued...