Drahomán Prize

• excellent translation skills
• contribution to the promotion of Ukrainian literature worldwide

1. Translators can be nominated for the Prize by foreign cultural and academic institutions, diplomatic missions, publishing houses, creative associations, and members of the Chapter.
2. All translators who have at least one translated and published literary or documentary work from Ukrainian language, can be nominated for the Prize. Literary and documentary works include prose, poetry, drama, and non-fiction (essays, reportage, interviews, biographies, memoirs).
3. The nominated book of the translator must be published by a foreign publisher within two years prior to the award year and should be compatible with values and principles of the founding organizations. Nomination of a tandem of translators who worked together on translating the same text is possible. Anthologies compiled from autonomous translations of different translators cannot be nominated for the Prize.
4. Laureates of the Prize cannot be nominated for the second time.
5. A translator cannot be nominated with the same book for the second time.
6. The submission consists of:

– a duly filled online submission form;
– electronic and hard copies of the nominated book in Ukrainian and in the language of the translation. Please send hard copies to the following address: Український осередок Міжнародного ПЕН-клубу, вул. Лукʼянівська, 14а, оф. 1, Київ 04085, Україна (PEN Ukraine, 14a Lukyanivska St., Office #1, Kyiv 04085, Ukraine); and electronic to: drahoman.prize@gmail.com.

Submissions for the 2025 Drahomán Prize are accepted from October 18 to December 5.

The Chapter of the Prize consists of 9 members. It includes authoritative writers, translators, linguists and literary critics, cultural managers. Regardless of the year, the Chapter includes the Director General of the Ukrainian Institute, the President of PEN Ukraine and the Director of the Ukrainian Book Institute, and the laureate of the previous year. The composition of the Chapter is approved annually by the founding organizations.

Invited members of the Chapter may be members of the Chapter for no more than 3 consecutive years.

The members of the Chapter have the right to involve experts (translators, linguists and literary critics, diplomats) to consult on the submitted nominations.

The 2024 Jury members:

• Volodymyr Yermolenko, writer, journalist, philosopher, President of PEN Ukraine
• Volodymyr Sheiko, Director General of the Ukrainian Institute
• Oleksandra Koval, Director of the Ukrainian Book Institute
• Iaroslava Strikha, translator, literary scholar
• Alla Tatarenko, translator, professor of Lviv Ivan Franko National University
• Rory Finnin, of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge
• Iryna Zabiiaka, translator
• Sofia Onufriv, translator, manager of cultural projects
• Eero Balk, translator, laureate of the Drahomán Prize-2024

The laureate of the Prize is selected in three stages:

1. At the first stage, a long list of applicants is formed, which is announced no later than December 10.
2. At the second stage, the members of the Chapter vote for the short list of the Prize, which is published no later than March 15.
3. At the third stage, the members of the Chapter elect the laureate of the Prize via an anonymous voting.

The Chapter may decide on awarding one of the long-listed translators with the Special Award. Monetary reward is not provided for the Special Award.

The name of the Prize laureate is announced annually during a ceremony in Kyiv, which takes place in April. Three finalists of the Prize are invited to participate in the ceremony.

The laureate of the Prize receives a statuette made by Ukrainian artist Anna Zvyagintseva, a cash prize of 3,000 Euros (including taxes), as well as additional opportunities to work and promote their work from the Ukrainian Institute and the Ukrainian Book Institute (participation in translation residencies, book fairs and literary festivals abroad).

In case a translators' tandem wins the Prize, the monetary reward is divided equally between them.

Yuriy Prokhasko, translator, member of the Chapter of the Prize:

"We have an incredibly favorable convergence in the paradigm of Ukrainian culture, from which an exceptional semantic added value is taken, which would be a sin not to use. Etymological kinship of the term "dragoman" as a "translator, interpreter, mediator, (cultural) diplomat, craftsman, and servant of mutual understanding" – and the name of one of the leading figures in the canon of Ukrainian history of ideas – Mykhailo Drahomanov.

It is quite obvious that this award is not dedicated exclusively to Drahomanov and is not consecrated directly in his name, is not under his protection and patronage. However, it is also obvious that Mykhailo Drahomanov is the personification of the belief and practice of translating Ukraine to the world and the world to Ukraine, to attract, to connect Ukraine to the world and the world to Ukraine greatly enhances the richness, the shimmer of these values.

It is good if a knowledgeable contemporary can read all these meanings at once. But it is enough when at least one person speaks to him through this name: we are talking about translators. Especially since the concept of dragoman has circulation and is immediately reported in many world languages. Writing the name of this international award in Latin transliteration through the aspirational h only further emphasizes its Ukrainian origin."

• 2020 – Claudia Dathe, Germany
• 2021 – Bohdan Zadura, Poland
• 2022 – Iryna Dmytrychyn, France
• 2023 – Katarzyna Kotyńska, Poland
• 2024 – Eero Balk, Finland