The names of this year’s finalists for the Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Literary Award have been announced. They are:
Artur Dron — author of this year’s national radio dictation text, as well as the bestseller “Hemingway Knows Nothing”;
Myroslav Laiuk — a writer and reporter known for the documentary book “Bakhmut”;
Valerii Puzik — a director, serviceman and author of the short-story collection “Hunters of Happiness”, and the non-fiction book “The Human Burrow”.
This was reported by the Polish Institute in Kyiv.
The Prize winner will be announced at a ceremonial event on 14 November 2026, with an online broadcast on the Polish Institute in Kyiv’s Facebook page. The winner of this year’s award will receive €5,000 from the Polish Institute in Kyiv, as well as a six-month Gaude Polonia scholarship from the Prize’s partner, the National Centre for Culture.
The finalists were selected by a Polish-Ukrainian jury comprising:
- Yaroslav Hodun — chair of the jury, director of the Polish Institute in Kyiv, counsellor-envoy at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kyiv;
- Bohumila Berdykhovska — a Polish publicist, head of scholarship programmes at the National Centre for Culture in Warsaw;
- Andrii Liubka — writer, translator, serviceman, winner of the 2024 Conrad Prize;
- Marcin Gachkovskyi — literary scholar, historian, publicist, translator of Ukrainian literature;
- Polina Horodyska — researcher, educator, independent expert on culture and the creative industries
The Conrad Prize was established by the Polish Institute in Kyiv in 2007 and is awarded once every two years.
It is awarded to a Ukrainian writer under the age of 40 for consistency in pursuing their creative path, innovation of form and the universality of the message. The jury, in particular, paid attention to the nominees’ Ukrainian-language work that addresses topical issues, prompts reflection and broadens knowledge of other cultures.
Previous Prize winners: Andrii Liubka (2024), Viktoriia Amelina (2021), Artem Chekh (2019), Kateryna Kalytko (2017), Sofiia Andrukhovych (2015), Tania Maliarchuk (2013), Natalka Sniadanko (2011), Serhii Zhadan (2009), Taras Prokhasko (2007).