"Playwriters are Writers, too" Award for Contemporary Dramatic Text - Encouragements and Fails

Sa？etak The paper examines the contemporary Croatian drama from 1990 till today in the context of Croatian literary awards for playwriting, such as Marin Dr？i？ Award established by the Ministry of Culture, and other similar awards. The paper discusses the motives and mechanisms behind the Croatian literary awards, as well as the idea of using literary awards to stimulate national playwriting, and considers the effects of literary awards in publication, theatre production and reception of awarded plays, the debates initiated by the literary awards, and the role of literary awards in canon formation