The Nike Literary Award (, pronounced ) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best book of a single living author writing in Polish and published the previous year. It is widely considered the most important award for Polish literature. Established in 1997 and funded by Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's second largest daily paper, and the consulting company NICOM, it is conferred annually in October. It is open for nominees from all literary genres, including non-fiction essays and autobiographies.
Each year, a nine-member jury selects the laureate in a three-stage process. Twenty official nominees are accepted in May, out of which seven finalists are declared in September. The final decision does not take place until the day of the award ceremony in October. The award consists of a statuette referring to the Greek goddess Nike, designed by the prominent Polish sculptor Kazimierz Gustaw Zemła, and a cash prize of currently PLN 100,000 (ca. $25,000).
In addition to the main jury award, there is an audience award based on the outcome of a vote on the seven official finalists conducted by Gazeta Wyborcza. The verdicts of the audience and jury have converged only occasionally (2000, 2001, 2004, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021). Two laureates of the award have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature: Czesław Miłosz (1980) and Olga Tokarczuk (2018). Tokarczuk and Wiesław Myśliwski are the only individuals to date to have received the Nike Award twice.
Laureates
Title and details of English translation stated where available. Jury award Year Author Picture Title English title Genre(s) Ref.2026Szczepan TwardochNullNullNovel2025Eliza KąckaWczoraj byłaś zła na zielonoYesterday You Were Angry In GreenEssay2024 Urszula Kozioł Raptularz – Diary Poetry 2023 Zyta Rudzka Ten się śmieje kto ma zęby Only Those with Teeth Can Smile Novel 2022 Jerzy Jarniewicz Mondo Cane Poetry 2021 Zbigniew Rokita Kajś: A Tale of Upper Silesia Reportage 2020 Radek Rak The Snake Heart Fairy Tale Fantasy novel 2019 Mariusz Szczygieł No There Reportage 2018 Marcin Wicha Things I Didn't Throw Out Collection of essays 2017 Cezary Łazarewicz So There'll Be No Traces. Grzegorz Przemyk's Case Reportage 2016 Bronka Nowicka – To Feed a Stone Poetry 2015 Olga Tokarczuk Księgi Jakubowe The Books of Jacob Novel 2014 Karol Modzelewski We'll Ride the Mare of History to the Ground: Confessions of a Bruised Rider Autobiography 2013 Joanna Bator Dark, Almost Night Novel 2012 Marek Bieńczyk Book of Faces Collection of essays 2011 Marian Pilot Pióropusz Plume Novel 2010 Tadeusz Słobodzianek – Our Class Play 2009 Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki A Song of Dependencies and Addictions Poetry 2008 Olga Tokarczuk Bieguni Flights Novel 2007 Wiesław Myśliwski Treatise on Shelling Beans Novel 2006 Dorota Masłowska The Queen's Peacock Novel 2005 Andrzej Stasiuk Travelling to Babadag Novel 2004 Wojciech Kuczok Muck Novel 2003 Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz Sunset in Milanówek Poetry 2002 Joanna Olczak-Roniker In the Garden of Memory Novel 2001 Jerzy Pilch The Strong Angel Inn Novel 2000 Tadeusz Różewicz Mother Is Leaving Poetry 1999 Stanisław Barańczak Surgical Precision Poetry 1998 Czesław Miłosz Road-side Dog Poetry 1997 Wiesław Myśliwski Horizon Novel
Audience award Year Author Title English title Genre(s)2026Szczepan TwardochNullNullNovel2025Eliza KąckaWczoraj byłaś zła na zielonoYesterday You Were Angry In GreenEssay 2024 Michał Witkowski Wiara. Autobiografia Faith: An Autobiography Autobiography 2023 Grzegorz Piątek Gdynia obiecana. Miasto, modernizm, modernizacja 1920-1939 Gdynia Promised: City, Modernism, Modernization 1920-1939 Reportage 2022 Oni. Homoseksualiści w czasie II wojny światowej Them. Homosexuals in WWII Reportage 2021 Zbigniew Rokita Kajś. Opowieść o Górnym Śląsku Kajś. A Tale of Upper Silesia Reportage 2020 27 śmierci Toby'ego Obeda 27 Deaths of Toby Obed Collection of reportages 2019 Mariusz Szczygieł Nie ma No There Reportage 2018 Marcin Wicha Rzeczy, których nie wyrzuciłem The Things I Didn't Throw Away Collection of essays 2017 Dwanaście srok za ogon The Birds They Sang Collection of essays 2016 1945. Wojna i pokój 1945. War and Peace Reportage 2015 Olga Tokarczuk Księgi Jakubowe The Books of Jacob Novel 2014 Ignacy Karpowicz Ości Bones Novel 2013 Szczepan Twardoch Morfina Morphine NovelBialystokonline.pl: Kultura i Rozrywka – Nike 2014. Nagroda Czytelników dla Ignacego KarpowiczaWyborcza.pl: NIKE 2014: Śmierć, seks, rodzinne kłamstwa, sztuka latania... Fragmenty wszystkich nominowanych książek 2012 Andrzej Franaszek Miłosz: biografia Miłosz: A Biography Biography 2011 Sławomir Mrożek Dziennik 1962–1969 Journals 1962–1969 Diary 2010 Jerzy Giedroyc. Do Polski ze snu Jerzy Giedroyc. To Poland from Dream Biography 2009 Gulasz z turula Turul Goulash Collection of essays 2008 Olga Tokarczuk Bieguni Flights Novel 2007 Mariusz Szczygieł Gottland Gottland Collection of reportages 2006 Wisława Szymborska Dwukropek Colon Poetry 2005 Ryszard Kapuściński Podróże z Herodotem Journeys with Herodotus Autobiography 2004 Wojciech Kuczok Gnój Muck Novel 2003 Dorota Masłowska Wojna polsko-ruska pod flagą biało-czerwoną Snow White and Russian Red Novel 2002 Olga Tokarczuk Gra na wielu bębenkach Playing on Many Drums Collection of short stories 2001 Jerzy Pilch Pod Mocnym Aniołem The Strong Angel Inn Novel 2000 Tadeusz Różewicz Matka odchodzi Mother Is Leaving Poetry 1999 Olga Tokarczuk Dom dzienny, dom nocny House of Day, House of Night Novel 1998 Zygmunt Kubiak Mitologia Greków i Rzymian The Mythology of the Greeks and Romans History 1997 Olga Tokarczuk Prawiek i inne czasy Primeval and Other Times Novel
Most nominations (1997–2022)
10 nominations – Jerzy Pilch 9 nominations – Andrzej Stasiuk 7 nominations – Tadeusz Różewicz 6 nominations – Julia Hartwig, Ewa Lipska, Olga Tokarczuk 5 nominations – Jacek Dehnel, , Czesław Miłosz, Jacek Podsiadło, , Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz, Magdalena Tulli 4 nominations – Marek Bieńczyk, Michał Głowiński, Henryk Grynberg, , Urszula Kozioł, Marcin Świetlicki, Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, , Adam Zagajewski 3 nominations – , Joanna Bator, , Sylwia Chutnik, , , Dorota Masłowska, Wiesław Myśliwski, Joanna Olczak-Roniker, Tomasz Różycki, Małgorzata Szejnert, Wisława Szymborska, Adam Wiedemann, Michał Witkowski
Jury Members of the jury included, among others Przemysław Czapliński (1997–2001 and 2011–2013) and Masza Potocka (2016–2017 and 2023–2024)
See also Polish literature List of Polish writers List of Polish poets Angelus Award Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage
References
External links Some information in English Official site (Polish)