Panattoni is the patron of the 28th Nike Award for literature

Already this May the twenty nominees for this year’s Nike Award are to appear in the pages of Gazeta Wyborcza. The main patron of this year’s literature prize is Panattoni, Europe’s biggest industrial real estate developer.

The award covers a wide range of books without regard for genre or style and today is recognised as the most important Polish prize for literature. Its creators modelled the award on the British Booker prize. The Nike Award has been presented every year since 1997 and has a major influence on the publishing world as well as the choices made by Polish readers. It not only affects print runs, reprints, and new translations but also promotes Polish literature on the international stage.

The award is organised by Gazeta Wyborcza and the Nike Prize Literature Foundation and this year the first business patron in the history of the award is to be Panattoni.  “It means a lot to me that Panattoni is the first business partner to become a strategic patron of the Nike Award. We firmly believe that strong links between business and culture are crucial for building a modern society based on values and for a balanced, rapidly-growing economy,” comments Robert Dobrzycki, the CEO and co-owner of Panattoni in Europe the UK, India and the Near East. “Through supporting the Nike Literature Award, we not only have the opportunity to celebrate great achievements in literature but also to reaffirm our conviction that a responsible business can and should be an active participant in the world of culture. This partnership has many aspects, but what pleases me most is the promotion of Poland’s heritage and potential,” he adds.

The winner of the Nike Literature Award is selected in three stages. At the end of May, the  jury is to choose 20 nominees and in September seven finalists will be shortlisted. The winner is to be announced on the first Sunday of October and is to be awarded PLN 100,000 as well as a prestigious statuette designed by Gustaw Zemła. In addition to the prize awarded by the jury, the Nike Readers’ Award is also to be presented to an author chosen chosen in a survey of the readers of Wyborcza.pl and Gazeta Wyborcza.

This year the Nike Award ceremony is to be held on October 6^th. The jury award is to be presented by Adam Michnik, the editor of Gazeta Wyborcza, while the Nike Readers’ Award is to be handed over by Robert Dobrzycki, the CEO of Panattoni.

Previous winners of the Nike Award include Czesław Miłosz, Olga Tokarczuk, Mariusz Szczygieł, Marcin Wicha, Andrzej Stasiuk, Grzegorz Piątek and Dorota Masłowska. Books of any genre can be considered for the award including poetry, drama and reportage, however the primary focus for the jury will be novels. The ten-person jury for the award comprises esteemed humanists, professors of Polish literature, famous literary critics and artists.