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The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year".

Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his entire estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt. In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt, (1830-1870), the Académie has awarded the Prix Goncourt every December since 1903. The jury that determines the winner meets at the Drouant restaurant to make its decision. The award, though nominal, ensures the winner celebrity status and a boost in sales.

The award may only be given to an author once, and has never been given to an author twice except in one case. Romain Gary won it in 1956 for Les racines du ciel, and then won it again under the pseudonym Émile Ajar in 1975 for La vie devant soi.

A few of the authors who have won the prize are: Marcel Proust, Jean Fayard, Simone de Beauvoir, Georges Duhamel, Alphonse de Châteaubriant, Antonine Maillet.

Some decisions for awarding the prize were controversial, the most famous case being the decision to award the prize 1919 to Marcel Proust; this was met with indignation, since many in the public felt that the prize should have gone to Roland Dorgelès for Les Croix de bois, a novel about the First World War, for the following reasons:

• the prize was supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, whereas Proust was 48 (Proust was a beginning author, though, which is the only eligibility requirement for the prize, age being unimportant);
• this was immediately after the end of the war, where Dorgelès had fought, whereas Proust had been deemed unfit for service for medical reasons (he had asthma);
• Dorgelès's novel was a jingoistic pamphlet exalting the military prowess of the French soldiers who fought the war, and had been acclaimed by critics and politicians as a model of literary patriotism, whereas Proust's was an apolitical work of social and psychological contemplation.

Of course, none of these arguments is considered to have any merit by today's literary critics.

The 1932 prize was also controversial for passing up Céline, and the voting process became the basis of the 1992 book Goncourt 32 by Eugène Saccomano.

In 1987, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens was established, as a collaboration between the Académie Goncourt, the French Ministry of Education, and FNAC, a book, music, and movie retailer.

• 1903 - John Antoine Nau, Force ennemie
• 1904 - Léon Frapié, La Maternelle
• 1905 - Claude Farrère, Les Civilisés
• 1906 - Jérôme et Jean Tharaud, Dingley, l'illustre écrivain
• 1907 - E. Moselly, Terres lorraines
• 1908 - Francis de Miomandre, Ecrit sur l'eau
• 1909 - Marius et Ary Leblond, En France
• 1910 - Louis Pergaud, De Goupil à Margot
• 1911 - Alphonse de Chateaubriant, Monsieur des Lourdines
• 1912 - André Savignon, Les Filles de la pluie
• 1913 - Marc Elder, Le peuple de la mer
• 1914 - Adrien Bertrand, l'Appel du Sol

Adrien Bertrand won the Prix Goncourt in 1916, the only time the award was given to two authors when he shared the award with Barbusse. No prize was awarded in 1914 due to the War. Source: website of the Academie Goncourt, http://www.academie-goncourt.fr/palmares.htm

• 1915 - René Benjamin, Gaspard
• 1916 - Henri Barbusse, le Feu
• 1917 - Henri Malherbe, La Flamme au poing
• 1918 - Georges Duhamel, Civilisation
• 1919 - Marcel Proust, A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleur (volume 2 of - À la recherche du temps perdu,)
• 1920 - Ernest Pérochon, Nêne
• 1921 - René Maran, Batouala
• 1922 - Henry Béraud, Le vitriol de la lune and Le martyre de l'obèse
• 1923 - L. Fabre, Rabevel ou Le mal des ardents
• 1924 - Thierry Sandre, Le Chèvrefeuille, le Purgatoire, le Chapitre XIII
• 1925 - Maurice Genevoix, Raboliot
• 1926 - H. Deberly, Le supplice de Phèdre
• 1927 - Maurice Bedel, Jérôme 60° latitude nord
• 1928 - Maurice Constantin Weyer, Un Homme se penche sur son passé
• 1929 - Marcel Arland, L'Ordre
• 1930 - H. Fauconnier, Malaisie
• 1931 - Jean Fayard, Mal d'amour
• 1932 - Guy Mazeline, Les Loups
• 1933 - André Malraux, La Condition humaine
• 1934 - Roger Vercel, Capitaine Conan
• 1935 - Joseph Peyre, Sang et Lumières
• 1936 - Maxence Van Der Meersch, L'Empreinte de Dieu
• 1937 - Charles Plisnier, Faux Passeports
• 1938 - Henri Troyat, L'Araignée
• 1939 - Philippe Hériat, Les enfants gâtés
• 1940 - Francis Ambrière, Les grandes vacances
• 1941 - Henri Pourrat, Le vent de mars
• 1942 - Bernard Marc, Pareil à des enfants
• 1943 - Marius Grout, Passage de l'Homme
• 1944 - Elsa Triolet, Le premier accroc coûte 200 Francs
• 1945 - Jean-Louis Bory, Mon village à l'heure allemande
• 1946 - Jean-Jacques Gautier, Histoire d'un Fait divers
• 1947 - Jean-Louis Curtis, Les Forêts de la Nuit
• 1948 - Maurice Druon, Les grandes familles
• 1949 - Robert Merle, Week-end à Zuydcoote
• 1950 - Paul Colin, Les jeux sauvages
• 1951 - Julien Gracq, Le Rivage des Syrtes (Refused the prize)
• 1952 - Béatrix Beck, Léon Morin, prêtre
• 1953 - Pierre Gascar, Les Bêtes
• 1954 - Simone de Beauvoir, Les Mandarins
• 1955 - Roger Ikor, Les eaux mêlées
• 1956 - Romain Gary, Les racines du ciel
• 1957 - Roger Vailland, La Loi
• 1958 - Francis Walder, Saint Germain ou la Négociation
• 1959 - André Schwarz-Bart, Le dernier des Justes
• 1960 - Vintilă Horia, Dieu est né en exil
• 1961 - Jean Cau, La pitié de Dieu
• 1962 - Anna Langfus, Les bagages de sable
• 1963 - Armand Lanoux, Quand la mer se retire
• 1964 - Georges Conchon, L'Etat sauvage
• 1965 - J. Borel, L'Adoration
• 1966 - Edmonde Charles-Roux, Oublier Palerme
• 1967 - André Pieyre de Mandiargues, La Marge
• 1968 - Bernard Clavel, Les fruits de l'hiver
• 1969 - Félicien Marceau, Creezy
• 1970 - Michel Tournier , Le Roi des Aulnes
• 1971 - Jacques Laurent, Les Bêtises
• 1972 - Jean Carrière, L'Epervier de Maheux
• 1973 - Jacques Chessex, L'Ogre
• 1974 - Pascal Lainé, La Dentellière
• 1975 - Emile Ajar (Romain Gary), La vie devant soi
• 1976 - Patrick Grainville, Les Flamboyants
• 1977 - Didier Decoin, John l'enfer
• 1978 - Patrick Modiano, Rue des boutiques obscures
• 1979 - Antonine Maillet, Pélagie la Charette
• 1980 - Yves Navarre, Le Jardin d'acclimatation
• 1981 - Lucien Bodard, Anne Marie
• 1982 - Dominique Fernandez, dans la main de l'Ange
• 1983 - Frédérick Tristan, Les égarés
• 1984 - Marguerite Duras, L'Amant
• 1985 - Yann Queffelec, Les Noces barbares
• 1986 - Michel Host , Valet de nuit
• 1987 - Tahar ben Jelloun, La Nuit sacrée
• 1988 - Erik Orsenna, L'Exposition coloniale
• 1989 - Jean Vautrin, Un grand pas vers le Bon Dieu
• 1990 - Jean Rouaud, Les Champs d'honneur
• 1991 - Pierre Combescot, Les Filles du Calvaire
• 1992 - Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
• 1993 - Amin Maalouf, Le Rocher de Tanios
• 1994 - Didier Van Cauwelaert, Un Aller simple
• 1995 - Andreï Makine, Le Testament français
• 1996 - Pascale Roze, Le Chasseur Zéro
• 1997 - Patrick Rambaud, La Bataille
• 1998 - Paule Constant, Confidence pour confidence
• 1999 - Jean Echenoz, Je m'en vais
• 2000 - Jean-Jacques Schuhl, Ingrid Caven
• 2001 - Jean-Christophe Rufin, Rouge Brésil
• 2002 - Pascal Quignard, Les Ombres errantes
• 2003 - Jacques-Pierre Amette, La maîtresse de Brecht
• 2004 - Laurent Gaudé, Le Soleil des Scorta
• 2005 – François Weyergans, Trois jours chez ma mère
• 2006 - Jonathan Littell, Les Bienveillantes
• 2007 - Gilles Leroy, Alabama song

• Prix Goncourt des Lycéens
• The Man Booker Prize
• The Commonwealth Writers' Prize
• The National Book Award
• The Whitbread Book Awards
• The Governor General's Award
• List of prizes, medals, and awards