The Taras Shevchenko National Prize ceremony took place on March 9, coinciding with the birthday of the renowned Ukrainian poet. The announcement of the winners was made public through an official decree on the president’s website.
Established in 1961, the Taras Shevchenko National Prize is a prestigious state award in Ukraine, recognizing significant contributions to the development of culture and the arts. It honors creators for outstanding works in literature, art, journalism, and publicistic writing that embody the spiritual heritage of the Ukrainian people and promote high humanitarian ideals.
2026 Taras Shevchenko Prize Winners
- Prose: Yurii Shcherbak for the book “Dead Memory: Voices and Cries” and Pavlo Beliansky for the novel “To Fight Is Not to Retreat”.
- Poetry: No award given.
- Literary and Art Studies: Olesia Avramenko for her popular science works in the series “Accent: Books on Bilokur, Prykhodko, and Tistol”; and Serhii Trymbach for “Ivan Mykolaychuk: Mysteries of Fate”.
- Publicism and Journalism: Oleg Kryshtopa for the documentary novel “Radio ‘Afrodita'”.
- Cinema: Pavlo Ostrikov for the film “You Are the Cosmos”.
- Theater Arts: Oksana Dmitrieva for the performances “Vertep”, “Giraffe Mons” at the Kharkiv State Academic Puppet Theater named after V.A. Afanasiev; “The Tempest” at the National Academic Ukrainian Dramatic Theater named after Maria Zankovetska; and “Medea” at the Ivano-Frankivsk National Academic Theater named after Ivan Franko.
- Creative Curation of Cultural Projects: Tetiana Hauk, Olena Hrozovska, Mykhailo Kulivnyk, Kateryna Lisova, and Daria Podoltseva for the exhibition project “Alla Horska: Boriviter”; and Valerii Sakharuk for the cultural project “30×30: Contemporary Ukrainian Art”.
- Design: No award given.
- Decorative Arts: Ihor Matsievskyi for the artistic project “Born in Fire” (a series of artworks in Ukrainian glass).
- Photography: Olena Hrom for the photo project “Stolen Spring”.
- Visual Arts: Nazar Bylyk for the “Memorial to Ukrainian Scouts”, and the sculpture series “Disturbed Space” and “Alloy”.
- Concert and Performance Arts: Yuliia Tkach for the media project “One Step to Victory”; as well as for artistic cycles “Figures”, “Meeting of Eras”; and concert programs and recordings from 2020 to 2025.
- Musical Arts: Oleksii Skrypnyk for the choral concert “Catharsis” for mixed choir a cappella on canonical texts; and Symphony No. 3 “Halyna” for violin and symphonic orchestra.
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The 2026 Taras Shevchenko National Prize has recognized significant contributions in various cultural fields, with notable winners in prose, theater, and visual arts. The awards highlight the ongoing commitment to celebrating and promoting Ukrainian culture.