The December Prize 2026 has announced its three finalists, with the winner to be revealed on October 27 at 7 p.m. at the Prunier in Paris. The competition, which started with ten candidates in early September, now narrows down to three authors. The jury has eliminated Aurélien Bellanger, Carla Demierre, Diaty Diallo, Samuel Dock, Gaëlle Obiégly, Thélyson Orélien, and Nicolas Werth. The three finalists are Anne Godard for Nous aussi (Actes Sud), Daria Marx for Tuer le vieux (Flammarion), and Lucie Rico for Mais que fait ce sang sur le pull de Jennifer ? (P.O.L). Anne Godard's Nous aussi delves into the lives of children in a wealthy, tightly knit family, where individual expression is difficult. A family event disrupts this balance, exposing long-repressed secrets. Godard previously received the Nancy - Le Point Bookstore Prize for this title and is also included in the second selection of the Goncourt Prize, one of France's most prestigious literary awards. Daria Marx's Tuer le vieux follows a woman who was supposed to file a complaint against her grandfather for childhood sexual abuse. After her appointment is canceled, she travels to the Basque Country with a different plan: to find the person she calls "the old man." The narrative unfolds over a single day, exploring themes of revenge, memory, and the confrontation with the past. Lucie Rico's Mais que fait ce sang sur le pull de Jennifer ? centers on Jennifer, whose keyboard malfunction leads to an impossible sentence that triggers a fragmented childhood memory. Clues including her grandfather, a scene from Gone with the Wind, and a bloodstain on a yellow sweater lead her to investigate her own past. Rico was also a finalist for the 2026 Deux Magots Prize, which was awarded to Jean-Noël Orengo. The December Prize, originally named the November Prize and established in 1989, was renamed after the 1998 awarding of Michel Houellebecq's The Elementary Particles and the withdrawal of its first patron. It is now supported by the Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and is worth 15,000 euros. The jury is chaired by Claude Arnaud and includes notable literary figures such as Laure Adler, Maxime Catroux, Charles Dantzig, Chloé Delaume, Christophe Honoré, Maylis de Kerangal, Patricia Martin, Amélie Nothomb, and Arnaud Viviant. In 2025, the December Prize was awarded to Laura Vazquez for Les Forces (Éditions du Sous-Sol).