On 4 May the Golden Owl awards were announced during a ceremony in Antwerp. The Golden Owl for Youth Literature went to ‘Het geheim van de keel van de nachtegaal' (The secret of the nightingale's throat), an adaptation of the famous fairy tale by Peter Verhelst and Carll Cneut. The picture book, published by De Eenhoorn, previously also won the Woutertje Pieterse Prize, a Boekenpluim (Book Feather) and a Boekenwelp (Book Cub).
Els Beerten too is on a winning streak with her gripping youth novel ‘Allemaal willen we de hemel' (We all want heaven, Querido), set in the Second World War. After winning the Boekenleeuw (Book Lion), Beerten now received the Golden Owl awarded by the young readers.
The Golden Owl prizes for Literary Fiction nominated by the professional jury and the reading public went to Robert Vuijsje and Pia de Jong respectively, 
two Dutch debutants.
A week later, on 11 May, yet another Flemish author, Dimitri Verhulst, won the coveted Libris Literature Prize for his novel ‘Godverdomse dagen op een godverdomse bol' (Goddamn days on a goddamn globe). It had been twelve years, since Hugo Claus and ‘De geruchten' (The rumours), that the Dutch Libris prize had been awarded to a Flemish title. Verhulst was the only Flemish author on the shortlist.
All authors have received financial support by the FLF to work on these titles.
