US Writer Norman Mailer wins Top France Prize.” Article-interview by unidentified writer. 4 March. DNA India. After receiving France’s highest award, the Legion of Honor, in New York from the French Ambassador, Mailer said “I’ve had an exciting relation to France all my life, from my young years in Brooklyn when I thought Paris was the place to be.” He said he loved French, “this language that I adore and was never able to master.”