The book Augusta Candiani – A prima donna da época de D. Pedro II , by Rio de Janeiro researcher Andrea Carvalho Stark, published by Editora da Unicamp, was the winner of the 2026 Academic Jabuti Prize, in the Arts category. The announcement took place on Tuesday evening (11), during a ceremony held at the Teatro Sérgio Cardoso, in São Paulo. Created in 2024 by the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL), the prize recognizes academic, scientific and technical works and seeks to increase the visibility of Brazilian intellectual and editorial production.
“Unicamp Press congratulates the author and the entire editorial team on this achievement,” said Edwiges Morato, director of Unicamp Press. “In addition to recognizing the quality of the books published by the Press and contributing to the visibility of our catalog, the Jabuti Academic Prize celebrates academic productions and, more especially, highlights academic publishing and university textbooks, one of the broadest and most consistent forms of communication of science and, more specifically, of Brazilian science.” According to Morato, the book reveals “historical and sociocultural aspects little explored in the historiography of nineteenth-century Brazil.”
The author highlighted the importance of the work of the Unicamp Publishing House team involved in the project and curation. “The Publishing House believed in the work and invested in it with great talent and dedication. The book turned out beautifully.” Stark says she didn't expect to go so far with her publishing debut. “Just being among the finalists would already be a great honor. Having won this award for my first book is very important,” she celebrated.
The work, featured in a report in the Unicamp Journal , retraces the life of Augusta Candiani, an Italian opera singer and actress who became one of the great figures of Brazilian cultural life during the Second Reign (1840-1889). By reconstructing the artist's story, the author also sheds light on aspects of 19th-century Brazilian society that have been little explored, including the presence of women and the role of art in the social fabric that was forming during that period.
For Stark, recovering these trajectories does not mean idealizing the past, but understanding how previous experiences help shape contemporary culture. The researcher believes that the book's recognition by the Jabuti Acadêmico award reinforces precisely the importance of recovering this memory. "The recognition of this book is also the recognition of completely forgotten stories, of people and characters totally erased," she states.
The author links this erasure to the political transformations that occurred with the transition from the Empire to the Republic. According to her, the rupture contributed to part of the cultural production and figures linked to the imperial period being left aside. In this process, figures like Augusta Candiani ended up losing space in Brazilian cultural memory. “It is good to recognize the past not as a desire for things to return to how they were, but as memory, projection, and a basis for building a future.”
In its third edition, the Jabuti Acadêmico award recognized 30 categories, 27 in the Science and Culture axis and 3 Special Awards. The winning authors received the Jabuti Acadêmico statuette and R$ 5, while the publishers of the winning works also received a statuette.
In this edition, physicist, professor, and researcher José Goldemberg was honored as Academic Personality, while Mary Del Priore's * History of Women in Brazil * received the recognition of Classic Academic Book 2026.
Read more about the award-winning book:
The Italian soprano who captivated the stages of the Second Empire.
Check out the winners of the 3rd edition of the Jabuti Academic Prize:
Science and Culture Axis
Public and Business Administration, Accounting Sciences and Tourism
Drummond and Public Administration: The Encounter of Poetry and Bureaucracy in the Life and Work of Carlos Drummond de Andrade — Fábio Lins de Lessa Carvalho (Forum)
Anthropology, Sociology, Demography, Political Science and International Relations
The Yanomami way of hanging hammocks. — Thiago Benucci (Perspectiva)
Architecture, Urbanism, Design and Urban and Regional Planning
The beauty of contemporary architecture — Renato Leão Rego (Rio Books)
Fine Arts
Augusta Candiani: the prima donna of the time of D. Pedro II — Andrea Carvalho Stark (Unicamp Publisher)
Astronomy and Physics
Erwin Schrödinger and the creation of wave mechanics: intellectual roots, historical context, and scientific development. — Roberto de Andrade Martins (LF Editorial)
Computer Science
The web of causality: discovering what really moves the world: the world is not made of coincidences, it is made of threads. — Williamson JH Brigido (Independent Work)
Food Science and Nutrition
Anthocyanins: exploring colors, chemical reactions, stability, extraction, bioavailability, and health benefits. — Paulo Anna Bobbio (in memoriam) and Paulo Cesar Stringheta (Appris)
Agricultural Sciences and Environmental Sciences
Soil health in tropical ecosystems: the basis for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. — Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, Carlos Roberto Pinheiro Junior, Lucas Pecci Canisares and Maurício Roberto Cherubin (Luiz de Queiroz Agrarian Studies Foundation – Fealq)
Biological Sciences, Biodiversity and Biotechnology
The bioinvasion of the sun coral — Beatriz Grosso Fleury, Fernanda Araujo Casares, Joel Christopher Creed, Maria do Rosario de Almeida Braga and Simone Siag Oigman-Pszczol (Bambalaio)
Religious Studies and Theology
African Brazil: orishas, priests, followers Reginaldo Prandi (Pallas)
Communication and Information
Crime without punishment: how the military killed Rubens Paiva Juliana Dal Piva (Matrix)
Law
Democracy and law after the pandemic. — José Eduardo Faria (Perspectiva)
Business
The lottery of birth: the doorman's daughter finishes university, but doesn't catch up with the rich man's son. — Fillipi Nascimento and Michael França (Jandaíra)
education and teaching
For a curriculum without foundation. — Alice Casimiro Lopes (Cortez)
Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy
Women researchers: transgressing academic hegemony — Anna Carolina Souza, Gabriela Conceição de Souza and Rayná Brum Pinto (CRV)
Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Social Work
Medical gaslighting: between life and death. — Victoria Fernandes Carneiro (Appris)
Engineering
Biodiesel and peasant income: the algorithm of dispossession — José Antônio Lobo dos Santos (Federal University of Bahia Press – Edufba)
Philosophy
Curatorial gestures: Duchamp and Malraux — Luiz Camillo Osório (PUC-Rio and Numa Editora)
Geography and Geosciences
The production of the agribusiness fable in Brazil: new and old faces of dependency. Denise Elias (Letra Capital Editora)
History and Archeology
Black mistresses, merchant ladies: Black women from Minas Gerais in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São João Del Rey (1700-1850) — Sheila de Castro Faria (Cosac)
Literature, Linguistics and Literary Studies
A Gift of Chance: A Biographical Essay on Silviano Santiago — João Pombo Barile (Authentic)
Mathematics, Probability and Statistics
Combinatorial game theory in graphs — Nicolas A. Martins, Nicolas Nisse, Rudini M. Sampaio and Samuel N. Araújo (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics – IMPA)
Reproductive
From finding to diagnosis: imaging diagnostic strategies in endometriosis. — Ana Luiza Santos Marques (Conexão Editora)
Psychology and Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis and democracy: dialogues between clinical practice, politics, and culture. — Gisele Papeti and Helenice Oliveira Rocha (Blucher)
Special Awards Axis
Scientific divulgation
Afro-Pindoramic Cosmologies and Cosmopolitics — Alan Alves-Brito (Marcavisual)
Illustration and Infographics
Friends of Science 2: History of Our Planet — Carlos Ruas, Gui Bon, Heitor de Sá Oliveira and Júlio Lacerda (Ruas)
Translation
The eastern face of Helicon — Pedro Barbieri (Mnēma)
Cover Photo
