HAARLEM, Netherlands, November 10, 2005 — De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling (NBV), the inter-confessional Bible translation launched by the Netherlands and Flanders Bible Societies a year ago, has won a high-profile literary prize against stiff competition from works by well known authors. And for the first time in the history of the NS Publieksprijs Book of the Year award, the winner was not among the books short-listed by the selection committee.
The NBV was an immediate hit, with so many copies being sold in the weeks after the launch that it was the second bestselling book of 2004. A year on, more than 650,000 copies have been sold. This enthusiasm among Dutch speakers for the NBV, produced in collaboration with the Roman Catholic Bible Foundation and the Flemish Bible Foundation and the first official translation to be published since 1951, is also reflected in the fact that, of the 92,075 members of the public who participated in the voting for the Book of the Year, 71.6 per cent voted for the NBV. The second prize went to Annejet van der Zijl's Sonny Boy, one of the six books chosen by the booksellers who made up the selection committee.
The prize of €7,500 and a sculpture by Jeroen Henneman was received by Dr Sijbolt Noorda, who headed the translation project's advisory committee, from author Nicolaas Matsier.
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