Matica srpska
His first book "Priče" (Stories) won the national Matica Srpska Award "Prva knjiga" (First Book) in 2002. The book was published by one of the most renowned and oldest national cultural institutions, the Matica srpska of Novi Sad. The volume is held in many libraries across the former Yugoslavia and beyond (e.g. University of Harvard). "Priče" was also short-listed for the most prestigious national award for short prose fiction, named after Ivo Andrić, a Nobel Prize winner for literature - "Andrićevu nagradu" (Andrić's Award).