Skopje, 2 February 2023 (MIA) — Eli Makazlieva’s latest collection of children’s verse, "The Miracle Gift in the Yearly Calendar” (Eduka Mak, 2022), is the winner of the Vancho Nikoleski Award given annually by the Macedonian Writers Association to the best children’s book published in the previous year.

At a press conference Thursday, Vancho Nikoleski Award jury chairwoman Kristina Nikolovska said the decision was unanimous. Nine children’s books were submitted to the competition. 

"The Miracle Gift in the Yearly Calendar” consists of 100 pages of poems Makazlieva wrote in the past year on topics including nature and good manners, she said.

Some poems, according to the judges, depict “children's development in preschool … as an educational oasis, a social setting and a paradise for friendship, joy, creativity and imagination of children.”

Other poems were examples of how to be polite, they said, adding that the book was the crowning glory of Makazlieva’s decades-long contribution to children’s literature. mr/