Literature, Epic Works, Open

There is no known list of entrants for the 1948 literature competitions, although it is known that Austria, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay sent a total of 44 entries. However, with few exceptions, only the prize winners are known in each category.

The rules of all 1948 Olympic art competitions stated that “Works submitted must have been executed during the course of the XIII Olympiad, that is, after the 1st January, 1944, and must not have been entered for the Art Competition of any previous Olympiads..” This was cleary not the case for the gold medallist, Italian Giani Stùparich. His work, “La Grotta” (The Cave) was first published in 1933, although Stùparich later edited it several times. Stùparich is best known for his novel, “L’Isola” (The Island), which he wrote in 1942. Silver went to Josef Petersen, a Danish writer who won no less than three Olympic silver medals in literature (earlier in 1924 and 1932). Together with Alex Walter Diggelmann, he is the only artist with three Olympic medals.