2023 Award for the Best Publishing Venture of the Year to the edition on SASA presidents

The Jury of the 66^th International Belgrade Book Fair presented the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts with the Award for the Best Publishing Venture of the Year for a three-volume publication titled ‘Presidents of the Society of Serbian Letters, Serbian Learned Society, Serbian Royal Academy, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.’

As stated in the Jury’s statement ‘This publication does not only represent the life and work of the most important institution in Serbia by means of its richness, but the entire life of Serbian science and culture in the last 180 years’. This year’s Jury for award presentation of the Belgrade Book Fair consisted of: Academician Zlata Bojović (president), Anđelka Cvejić, Bojan Jović, SASA Corresponding Member Zoran Paunović and Marko Krstić.

The publication on the Academy’s presidents contains 42 biographies whose authors, 32 of them, are academicians, university professors and research associates. The editor-in-chief is Academician Zoran Knežević, SASA president, while Academician Živorad Čeković is the editor of the publication. The graphic design solution was entrusted to SASA technical editor Nikola Stevanović.

The edition encompasses the historical period from 1841 to the elections for president in 2023. As noted by Academician Ž. Čeković in the edition’s preface: ‘Through an overview of life and work of previous presidents of SSL, SLS, SRA and SASA, one can understand general rich and successful work and mission of the above-mentioned institutions, forerunners of the present-day Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, bearing in mind that no similar, unique publication exists which showcases the work, scholarly opus and academic vision of SASA presidents.’

More than 300 illustrations, reproductions and facsimiles, primarily from the Academy’s holdings, complete this edition, along with a significant number of photographs from private collections and digital reproductions lent to the Academy by the National Museum of Serbia, the Belgrade City Museum, the Historical Museum of Serbia, the Institute of Botany and The Jevremovac Botanical Garden and other national institutions.