NIKE is a prize for the best book of the year published in Polish. It has been presented since 1997, always for a book published in the previous year. Award-winning books to date include Wieslaw Mysliwski's WIDNOKRAG / The Horizon, Czeslaw Milosz's PIESEK PRZYDROZNY / ROADSIDE DOG, Stanislaw Baranczak's CHIRURGICZNA PRECYZJA. ELEGIE I PIOSENKI Z LAT 1995-1997 / Surgical Precision. Elegies and Songs from 1995-1997, Tadeusz Rozewicz's MATKA ODCHODZI / Mother departs, Jerzy Pilch's POD MOCNYM ANIOLEM / BY THE POWERFUL ANGEL and Joanna Olczak-Ronikier's W OGRODZIE PAMIECI / IN THE GARDEN OF MEMORY. Books are nominated for the award in May, and the seven finalists are chosen in September. The winner is announced on the same day the judges make their decision. The author of the winning book receives a cash prize and the Nike statuette, the work of sculptor Gustaw Zemla.
As the winner of the Nike award's first edition, I would like to wish the award a long life in unchanged form. (...) The Nike award is a unique prize in all its aspects. (W. Mysliwski, "Gazeta Wyborcza").
People thirst for a canon, they want to know what's worth reading. Readers receive a pointer as to what's worth their attention. They want a guide, and guides, or in this case - critics, are in short supply. (...) Readers trust that someone is keeping a lookout, choosing for them. In this terribly gaudy world, in the flood of media messages, they want to have a permanent point of reference. This is something the Nike award can give them. (M. Janion, "Gazeta Wyborcza").
On May 15, 2003, during the 48TH WARSAW INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR (more...) 20 books were nominated for the 7th edition of the most eminent Polish literary award NIKE 2003.
A list of nominees for the NIKE 2003 LITERARY AWARD:
- Edwin Bendyk, Zatruta studnia. Rzecz o wladzy i wolnosci / Poisoned Well. On power and freedom (analysis of phenomena that had the greatest impact on directions in social transformations during the last 10 years - from operation "Desert Storm" to the attack on World Trade Center), W.A.B.
- Marek Bienczyk, Oczy DÜrera / DÜrer's Eyes (a volume of essays), Sic!
- Ewa Bienkowska, Pisarz i los. O tworczosci Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzinskiego / Author and fate. On Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski's creativity, Zeszyty Literackie
- Natasza Goerke, 47 na odlew / 47 with a swing (prose), Proszynski i S-ka
- Julia Hartwig, Blyski / Flashes, Sic! (more...)
- Jacek Hugo-Bader, W rajskiej dolinie wsrod zielska (a collection of reportages - 1992-2001 - an obligatory reading for everyone who wants to know what he/she is talking about when saying "Russia"...), Proszynski i S-ka
- Wojciech Jagielski, Modlitwa o deszcz / Praying for rain (result of 11 journeys to Afghanistan made between Spring of 1992 and Fall of 2001), W.A.B.
- Marek Koterski, Dzien swira / THE DAY OF THE WACKO (book contains: "Dzien swira", "Dom wariatow / House of lunatics", "Zycie wewnetrzne / Inner life" and a conversation with the author), Swiat Literacki
- Dorota Masłowska, WOJNA POLSKO-RUSKA POD FLAGA BIALO-CZERWONA / THE POLISH-RUSSIAN WAR UNDER A WHITE AND RED FLAG (prose), Lampa i Iskra Boza
- Monika Milewska, Ocet i lzy. Terror Wielkiej Rewolucji Francuskiej jako doswiadczenie traumatyczne / Vinegar and tears. The terror of the Great French Revolution as a traumatic experience, slowo/obraz terytoria
- Czeslaw Milosz, Druga przestrzen / The Second space, Znak (more...)
- Czeslaw Milosz, Orfeusz i Eurydyka (poetry), Wydawnictwo Literackie
- Tadeusz Rozewicz, Szara strefa (a collection of poems), Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie
- Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz, Zachod slonca w Milanowku / The Sunset in Milanowek (poetry), Sic! (more...)
- Andrzej Sapkowski, Narrenturm (fantasy), Supernowa
- Joanna Siedlecka, Pan od poezji. O Zbigniewie Herbercie / POETRY MAN, Proszynski i S-ka (more...)
- Anna Sobolewska, Cela. Odpowiedz na zespol Downa / Cela. An answer to the Down's syndrome (the story of author's daughter, Cecylia...), W.A.B.
- Wislawa Szymborska, Chwila / Moment, Znak (more...)
- Wojciech Tochman, Jakbys kamien jadla / As if you have been eating stones (reporter's story from Bosnia which he has visited several times), Pogranicze
- Andrzej Walicki, Rosja, katolicyzm i sprawa polska / Russia, Catholicism and Polish case, Proszynski i S-ka
Finalists (more...):
- Julia Hartwig, Blyski / Flashes, Sic!
- Dorota Maslowska, WOJNA POLSKO-RUSKA POD FLAGA BIALO-CZERWONA / THE POLISH-RUSSIAN WAR UNDER A WHITE AND RED FLAG, Lampa i Iskra Boza
- Czeslaw Milosz, Orfeusz i Eurydyka, Wydawnictwo Literackie
- Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz, Zachod slonca w Milanowku / The Sunset in Milanowek, Sic!
- Wislawa Szymborska, Chwila / Moment, Znak
- Wojciech Tochman, Jakbys kamien jadla / As if you have been eating stones, Pogranicze
- Andrzej Walicki, Rosja, katolicyzm i sprawa polska / Russia, Catholicism and Polish case, Proszynski i S-ka
...And the winner is... Jaroslaw Marek Rymkiewicz!...
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