Organised by Radio Marija Bistrica, the closing of the 28th Josip Ozimec Recital was held in the Hall of Divine Mercy. At the very beginning, a poem by Ivica Jembrih Cobovički from the competition of the sixth recital in 2004, dedicated to Monsignor Lovro Cindori, was read.
In that year, after 32 years as rector of the Marija Bistrica Sanctuary and parish priest in Marija Bistrica, Monsignor Lovro Cindori received a new appointment as canon of the Zagreb Metropolitan Cathedral Chapter. Monsignor Cindori recently passed away. In 1999, he founded Radio Marija Bistrica, which is also the organiser of the Recital, and was highly instrumental in the launch of the Recital itself, also in 1999.
At the start of this year’s closing ceremony, the organisers paid tribute to the beloved Lovrek, about whom Elvis Lacković, director of the Radio, spoke in carefully chosen words. He read “Magištrale” – the final part of a sonnet crown dedicated to Cindori by Ivica Jembrih Cobovički, who died four years ago.
A total of 261 entries were received for this year’s competition, from 75 authors in total. The highest number of entries was in standard Croatian – 156, with 76 in the Kajkavian dialect and 29 in the Chakavian dialect. The expert jury, comprising Professor Ivančica Tomorad, Professor Marija Lamot and Father Anton Šuljić, selected the works for performance at the recital closing and for publication in the anthology “Došel bum v Bistricu”. The anthology contains 80 poems, of which 24 were selected for reading. The expert jury also decided on the prizes, with three awards in each linguistic category.
In the Chakavian category, third prize went to Živka Kancijanić from Vodnjan for the poem “Baloni ud sapunjače”, second prize to Anđelka Korčulanić from Split for “Vaja mi izdurat”, and first prize to Nevenka Erman from Žminj for “Struna vijulina”. In the Štokavian competition, third prize was won by Slavica Sarkotić from Lekenik for “Tratinčica”, second prize by Mirjana Vujec from Stubičke Toplice for “Muka po pjesniku”, and first prize by Nina Vukadin from Zagreb for “Svjetlo koje se ne povlači”. In the Kajkavian competition, third prize was awarded to the poem “Ke me ma” by Đurđa Lovrenčić from Sveti Križ Začretje, second prize to Darko Foder from Ivanec for “Koarak pa koarak”, and first prize to Biserka Marečić from Kašina for “Pret vrati”. The audience prize was won by Anica Lukina from Donja Stubica for the poem “Ove riječi nisu pesma”.
The verses were recited by Jelena Januš-Grbić and Josip Klapač, while the event was enriched by the song of the ŽVA “Sotelia” from Hum na Sutli. On behalf of the patrons, the rector of the Marija Bistrica Sanctuary, Father Tomica Šestak, the mayor of the Marija Bistrica municipality, Josip Milički, and the envoy of the Krapina-Zagorje County prefect, Željko Kolara, public relations and protocol advisor Damir Galoić, addressed the audience. They, along with the president of the Marija Bistrica municipal council, Teodor Švaljek, awarded the prizes. The recital was hosted by Ana Kruhak.
