The decree regarding the opening of applications for the 18th edition of the Ryszard Kapuściński Prize was announced on October 23, 2026. The organizer and donor of this prestigious award for the best book of literary reportage remains the capital city of Warsaw. According to the announcement, applications for this year's edition will be accepted until December 31, 2026.
The contest considers only first editions of literary reportages published in 2026 in the Polish language. Anthologies are excluded from the prize pool. Applications may be submitted by publishers, the authors themselves, and readers who wish to nominate selected titles.
The application procedure provides for the submission of documents by email or post. The application must include the author's first and last name and the translator's name (in the case of translations), the title of the work, the publisher's name, and the contact details of the person or institution making the application. Regardless of the chosen form of communication, it is mandatory to physically send six copies of the book to the address of the Office of the Capital City of Warsaw, Culture Bureau, located at pl. Bankowy 2. The envelope must bear a note indicating participation in the Ryszard Kapuściński Prize competition. Publishers who have an electronic version (PDF or e-book) may additionally send the file to designated email addresses; however, this does not exempt them from the obligation to provide printed copies.
Decision-Making Mechanism and Prizes
The selection of the winner will take place in three stages. The jury will first select a list of ten nominated titles, which will be announced in the spring of 2027. In the next step, a final five will be selected. The award ceremony is scheduled for May 22, 2027, during the International Book Fair in Warsaw.
The winner of the 18th edition will receive the main prize of PLN 120,000. If the awarded book is a translation from a foreign language, the translator will be entitled to an additional PLN 25,000. The remaining members of the final five will be honored with PLN 15,000 each, and their translators will receive PLN 8,000 each.