The data released by the daily newspaper has not yet subsided, and the nomination list for the Wei Feng Award has put Zhang in the headlines again.
The Wei Feng Award is the benchmark for domestic medium-length novels, and it is awarded only once every four years. To some extent, it is more important than the Pu Songling Award that Zhang Zhong won previously.
In fact, this is the case with awards in the literary world. Most long-form awards carry more weight than short-form awards, just as novels often have more weight and influence than short stories.
I have to mention that the last winner of the Wei Feng Award for Novel was Zhuang Yu, which was also the second time that Zhuang Yu won the Wei Feng Award.
This time Zhang Zhong has a total of two books shortlisted for the Wei Feng Award, namely the novel "The Ordinary World" and the novella "Border Town".
It is not common for two books to be shortlisted at the same time, but it is not shocking, especially when this happened to Zhang Zhong, it seems very reasonable.
There are even some book friends who are not familiar with the Wei Feng Award and complain that there are too few nominations. After all, Zhang Zhong has published many excellent traditional literary works in recent years.
In addition to the two shortlisted books, there are also novels "Alive" and "The Story of Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" that meet the award requirements.
Some people also mentioned "A Premeditated Murder", "The Metamorphosis" and "Sophie's World", but these two books are not in line with the selection theme of the Wei Feng Award.
The works should be conducive to advocating the thoughts and spirit of patriotism, collectivism, and socialism, conducive to the thought and spirit of modernization, conducive to national unity, social progress, and people's happiness, and conducive to advocating the use of honest labor to strive for good things.
The mind and spirit of life.
These four "benefits" are the evaluation principles of the Wei Feng Award.
Therefore, although the literary nature of the three books mentioned above is beyond doubt, they still cannot enter the field of vision of the award jury.
When "Alive" was published, the Wei Feng Literature Award had already closed, so "Alive" could only enter the next round of selection.
So the only regret I have is actually "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood".
Of course, it's nothing to regret. After all, from a certain level, "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood" does not quite comply with the four "beneficial" principles.
When the official announcement was made, Zhang Zhong had already received an invitation to the Wei Feng Award Ceremony. The award ceremony was scheduled for October 9th at the Jinxiang Cultural Center in the Magic City.
When he saw the venue of this year's Wei Feng Award Ceremony, Zhang Zhong felt that it was a coincidence that attending the award ceremony this time would be a good opportunity for France to award him the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Lettres et des Arts.
Afterwards, Zhang Zhong called the French Embassy in Shanghai and discussed with them the time for the awarding ceremony.
October 9th was a Sunday, so Zhang Zhong discussed with the French Embassy to set the time for the award ceremony on October 8th. That day was a Saturday, so things would not be delayed.
Not long after the discussion with the French Embassy, the French Ministry of Culture and Communications officially released news, announcing that Zhang Zhong would be awarded the French Knight of the Order of Letters and Arts.
After seeing this official news, Zhang Zhong realized that he was not the only one to be awarded the medal this time. Another one was the famous Chinese film and television star Lin Fei.
Lin Fei is in his forties, has won several Best Actor Awards, and is a leading figure among the young generation in the film and television industry.
In addition to the new medals, the official also announced that the Knight Medal previously awarded to Wen Jinjiang would be upgraded to an Officer Medal.
After the official news was announced, netizens thought it was quite a coincidence that here the Wei Feng Award had just announced the nomination list, and over there France announced that Zhang Zhong would be awarded the Knight Medal, as if there was a fight.
The most coincidental thing is that the awarding ceremony and the Wei Feng Award Ceremony were held two days in succession, and both were in Shanghai, which saved Zhang Zhong a lot of things.
Little did they know that this was not a coincidence, it was simply the result of Zhang Zhong's convenience.
Wen Jinjiang even made a special phone call to congratulate Zhang Zhong.
"Congratulations, you have won the French Knighthood of Letters and Arts. This is another great addition to your book of honors." Wen Jinjiang said with a smile on the phone.
Zhang Zhong also smiled and said, "I should be the one to congratulate you. Didn't you upgrade to the officer's medal?"
"Stop teasing me. I don't have much quality. Even if I am upgraded to Commander, I still won't be as good as your Knight Medal."
The reason why Wen Jinjiang said this is because many people in the entertainment industry have received this medal, including the Commander's Medal.
On the contrary, there are far fewer people in the Chinese literary world who have received this medal.
Things are more valuable when they are rare. Although no one says it explicitly, everyone subconsciously thinks that it is more valuable for a writer to get this medal.
"When are you going to come to Magic City? In advance, or on the same day?"
Zhang Zhong said, "I should arrive at noon on Saturday."
"In such a hurry?" Wen Jinjiang was a little surprised, then smiled and said: "But it doesn't matter. The awarding ceremony is very short and can be done in a while. I will be the host and treat you to a big meal."
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey. I'm going here with the mentality of attacking local tyrants, so you have to prepare your wallet."
"Haha, although I'm not rich, I still have no problem taking care of food and drink. If you are willing to hand over "The Da Vinci Code" to me, I will take care of your food for a year, let alone one day."
This is not the first time that Wen Jinjiang has mentioned the matter of "The Da Vinci Code".
Not long after "The Da Vinci Code" came out, Wen Jinjiang was already thinking about this IP. Not only did he call and have a private chat with Zhang Zhong, but he also quoted the price to Chen Qing through the company.
But there was no agreement at the time.
This time he brought up the old matter again, Zhang Zhong said with a smile, "I heard Chen Qing say that he is discussing this matter with Hua Yi now. I didn't ask in detail how the discussion was going."
"You are such a good helper. You have the brains of a fox and the appetite of a lion. I don't think Hua Yi will be able to swallow this plan in the end."
"Don't be anxious, take your time. We have several movies currently being shot here. It's normal that we can't spare time to work on "The Da Vinci Code." And I heard that Huayi has no shortage of projects on hand recently.
, there is no need to hold on to "The Da Vinci Code"."
Wen Jinjiang sighed, "There are a lot of projects, but most of them are TV series. I hired a lot of fresh meat, and the traffic can keep up, but I'm afraid that with the booming momentum, there will be no good results in the end. Still.
Just take more high-quality works.”
"With you taking care of it, there won't be any big problems."
"I'm just a small shareholder, so I can't say anything. Ever since "Ten Little Indian Boys" became a hit, the mentality of the company's top management has become a bit eccentric. The dividends from this movie are probably almost gone."
Listening to Wen Jinjiang's complaints, Zhang Zhong didn't say anything. After all, this was an internal matter of his company. After Wen Jinjiang said a few words, he knew that he had said too much, so he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll see you in the capital later."