TAIPEI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Two young writers from the Chinese mainland on Sunday won the awards of the 40th China Times Literature Prize, a leading literary award in Taiwan with a history of about 40 years.
Zhang Jin'er won the secondary prize with a short story titled "Mass of Rose" and Wang Pengfei under the pseudonym of "Chuizi" won the thirdly prize with the story titled "Kidney" for the category of novels and film and TV scripts.
A total of 12 writers won the China Times Literature Prize for three categories, contemporary poems, proses, as well as novels and film and TV scripts, according to the Want Want China Times Media Group, the award's organizer.
"The prize is very significant for me since many writers I admired had won this prize before," said Zhang Jin'er. "It is my first literature award and a great encouragement for a young and fresh-hand writer."
Set in New York, the short story was inspired by Zhang's personal life and portrayed a young person's pursuit of the meaning of life.
Founded in 1978, the China Times Literature Prize has granted awards to a number of young and accomplished writers across the Taiwan Strait. There have been mainland winners since its 12th prize in 1989.
"Simply judging from the texts, we cannot tell whether the writers are from the mainland or Taiwan," said Aiya, a judge for the prose category. "Young people are becoming more and more alike in terms of the way they think, aspire and express themselves."
This year's candidates for the prose category covered a rich variety of topics and have strong personal styles and perspectives, Aiya said.
The winners were selected from 1,737 writing works in Chinese, submitted by writers from Taiwan, the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao as well as other countries and regions.
The literature prize can be a platform for people across the Strait to create a shared memory and forge a deeper bond since they use the same language and share a very similar lifestyle, said Wang Cho-chung, president of China Times and Want Daily.
