The 18 finalists of the ITHACA Diary Contest presented their works during the ceremony on September 13, 2024. The finalists’ works will be part of the next ITHACA Diaries e-book.

In 2012 the life story contest DIMMI Multimedia Migrant Diaries (www.dimmidistoriemigranti.it) was launched for the first time to collect and disseminate self-narration stories by individuals with migratory experience or background. Until then, the contest has been based on stories of migrants who either live or have lived in Italy.

Ten years later, meeting the ITHACA project, DIMMI enlarged its borders thanks to its members and their networks and it became the ITHACA Diary Contest.

After launching a call for stories in Autumn 2023, 47 stories were submitted from authors in 7 different countries: Greece, France, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco, England, Albania, Jordan, and Syria.

Local reading committees selected 18 among texts, audios, videos and photographs. The finalist works were presented during a successful final event that took place on September 13th in Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy.

The diary contest collects and preserves an endangered and multilingual cultural heritage, and to contrast anti-migration stereotypes and hate speech through the direct narration of women and men with their personal or family experiences.

Stay tuned: as an ITHACA Christmas present to our readers, an eBook collecting the finalist stories will be published on our website!