Since 1987 AKO awards the annual leading and best known literature prize in the Netherlands, the AKO Literature Prize. In 2005 this prestigious prize went to the author Jan Siebelink, for his novel Knielen op een bed violen (Kneeling on a bed of violets), followed in 2006 by Hans Munstermann’s De Bekoring (The enchantment). Winning the AKO Literature Prize effectively meant that these books both reached the top 10 bestseller status. In 2007 the winner was A.F.Th. The prize is awarded under the auspices of the Stichting Jaarlijkse Literatuurpijs voor Fictie en Non-fictie (Foundation Annual Literature Prize for Fiction and Non-fiction). The winner receives a sculpture made by Eugène Peters as well as 50,000 EURO in prize money. The latter prize has been made possible by the Jacques de Leeuw Foundation. Earlier, the award ceremony was broadcast by RTL 4 in RTL Boulevard, but from 2007 onwards the new media partner is the VARA programme Pauw & Witteman, meaning that the ceremony can now be seen live on location. In 2007 the award ceremony was held at Royal Palace ’t Loo in Apeldoorn.
In 2008 Doeschka Meijsing won the AKO Literature Prize for her novel Over de liefde (About love). The chairman of the AKO 2008 Literature Prize jury, Wim Deetman, announced the winner during a celebration at the famous Kurhaus in Scheveningen. For more information on the AKO Literature Prize, please visit
www.akoliteratuurprijs.nl.