Chapter 88: Submitting Internal Reference Again
In the future, there will be four major awards in the domestic literary world: the Mao Dun Literature Award, the Lu Xun Literature Award, the Lao She Literature Award, and the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award. Currently, only the Mao Dun Literature Award has been established, which is awarded every four years. It was just awarded in 1984. Gao Jialin will have to wait two more years to win the award.
There are now rumors that the Lu Xun Literature Prize is being planned and will be announced next year, but the first award was not presented until 1997.
The Lao She Literature Award and the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award have not yet been organized, so Gao Jialin can only compete for a few awards now. Among those that can be obtained immediately, the People's Literature Award is the most important one.
This award, like the Lu Xun Literary Award, is also in the preparation stage. Because it is backed by the People's Literature Publishing House, the preparation of the People's Literature Award is much smoother than that of the Lu Xun Literary Award. The first list of winners will be announced in 1986.
It is already December, and 1986 is just around the corner, which means that the award will be officially presented in a few months, and we won't have to wait as long as for the Mao Dun Literature Prize.
When it comes to a writer's achievements and status, the first thing to look at is naturally his works. If your works are well written, your status will naturally be high. The second thing to look at is what awards he has won. The higher the level of the awards, the higher his status.
When Gao Jialin published his first book, he was just a promising young writer. However, if he could win the People's Literature Prize, his status would immediately rise several levels and he would become a nationally renowned writer, so he must be happy to hear the news.
The editor-in-chief was also happy. "Our Mengya has been around for quite some time, but unfortunately we have never won any major awards. Two years ago, Peng Jianming's That Mountain, That Man, That Dog won the National Excellent Short Story Award, which made us celebrate several times. Your winning this time is even more reason to celebrate."
It is understandable that "Mengya" has won few awards. After all, it is a magazine that mainly publishes works by young authors, and there is definitely a certain gap in writing level between young authors and senior authors.
And those famous authors often prefer to submit their works to the four major magazines, Harvest, Huacheng, Contemporary and October. How can they win awards if they can't get high-quality manuscripts?
"I'm just shortlisted and haven't won the award yet. Compared with those great writers, my writing style is still a bit immature." Gao Jialin said modestly. We can't celebrate in advance, otherwise we will end up as embarrassed as Vinicius.
"The People's Literature Award has been prepared for a long time, and the shortlist may have been decided long ago. If they don't plan to give you the award, why would they add you in at the last minute? And your work is indeed outstanding. If I were a judge, I would definitely vote for you." The editor-in-chief is more confident than Gao Jialin.
In terms of literary quality, "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town" was already highly rated, and coupled with the meaning expressed in the book, which judge would dare not give such a work an award now that Hong Kong has just been confirmed to return? In addition, the editor-in-chief has also heard some news. Where did the recent recommendations and analyses in the newspapers come from? It is said that it was recommended by a senior leader. The senior leader has spoken, so how can those judges stop it?
"Our editorial department will also help you. Please contact the people you need to contact immediately and organize a literary conference to build momentum for you. You must win this award this time! This time, it's not just about our editorial department of Mengya. If you win the award, it will be an honor for the entire Shanghai literary community. The Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles will definitely not be idle either. You can rest assured."
When it comes to selecting any award, you can’t just wait for the results. You still have to prepare. The harder you work, the greater your chances of winning.
The editor-in-chief was not as capable as Weinstein, but he was no idler either. He soon got busy. With someone to take care of things for him, Gao Jialin did not have to work so hard. While preparing for his final exams, he appeared in public occasions as arranged by the editor-in-chief, gave speeches, and talked about his creative experiences.
Everything went well in the final exam. Having inherited the knowledge of a 985 PhD, Gao Jialin's brain worked much better. After writing for so long, he had developed the abilities that should be exercised. It was no problem for him to cope with the Chinese Department exam. He could get high scores easily. Even after taking such a long leave, he could still get first place in the grade.
After the last exam, the roommates couldn't wait to go home. However, Gao Jialin was not in a hurry to leave this time. The furniture factory's holiday was a little later, and he had to get the money for this period before he could leave.
It would be a waste if he did nothing during this period, so Gao Jialin imitated his experience of going to Guangdong during the summer vacation and wandered around Shanghai, conducting some research on the current development status of Shanghai's private economy.
During the day, I would go around and have a look with insiders I found through connections, and talk to self-employed individuals and factory managers to find out how their business was going, what troubles they had in doing business, and what were the most pressing issues that needed to be resolved.
I returned to the villa at night, sorted out the information, and then conducted a detailed and in-depth analysis of these phenomena based on the current situation and future development, and proposed solutions to some minor problems in an exploratory tone.
Gao Jialin said these words in a rather tactful way, using phrases such as "Is this possible?" or "How did Hong Kong solve these problems?", etc. This made it easier for the leaders to accept them.
After accumulating enough materials, Gao Jialin selected some representative cases, wrote them into articles according to the above routine, and sent them to Zhang Lifeng by express mail.
A few days later, Zhang Lifeng called and said, "This article is not as broad-minded as the last one, but it is more practical and in-depth. I can see that you have made progress. Just like last time, I have also submitted this article for internal reference."
"They were very satisfied with it and decided to publish it in the last internal reference magazine. They also asked me to tell you that next time you have a similar manuscript, you don't need me to help forward it. You can submit it yourself. They will send you the submission address and submission requirements later. Please check it."
"By the way, I heard that you were nominated for the People's Literature Award? You will probably come to Beijing to receive the award. Buy your tickets and give me a call. I'll pick you up at the train station."
"Thank you, Teacher Zhang. I will treat you to a meal when we arrive in Beijing." Gao Jialin said sincerely.
"Now that you are in Beijing, I should treat you. I'll take you to eat Peking duck."
Before going home, Gao Jialin received the letter. The submission address was Xinhua News Agency, which was normal. It has always been their responsibility to produce internal reference materials. Reference News was produced by Xinhua News Agency. Now that Reference News has been made public, there must be other internal reference magazines that have not been fully made public.
Gao Jialin submitted the manuscript to them, and then they decided which magazine to publish it.
I can say that this is what I heard directly from heaven. Gao Jialin put away the envelope with satisfaction, took a bunch of gifts, and set off on the journey back home with Gao Jiawang.
(End of this chapter)
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