Lettre Ulysses Award

The Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage has been given annually since 2003 for the best texts in the genre of literary reportage, which must have been first published during the previous two years. The award was initiated by Lettre International in Berlin, and is organized by the Foundation Lettre International Award, a joint partnership between Lettre International and the Aventis Foundation. The Goethe-Institut also cooperates with the project.

A polyglot jury of experienced writers representing eleven of the major linguistic regions of the world seeks the best international texts in the genre and decides on a shortlist of seven, eventually choosing three winners from among them. The members of the jury are appointed by the organizer. In addition, an advisory committee of distinguished writers lends its moral and intellectual backing to the Lettre Ulysses Award. Members of the committee include Günter Grass, the German writer and winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Polish reportage author Ryszard Kapuściński, the French ethnologist Jean Malaurie, and the Belarusian writer Svetlana Aleksievich.

The Lettre Ulysses Award is the first world prize in the reportage genre.

The prize winners are announced at a public award ceremony in Berlin on the Saturday before the opening of the international Frankfurt Book Fair. The winners of the first, second and third prizes are given cash awards amounting to $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000 USD, respectively. Residencies in Berlin are awarded to the other four finalists.

The Lettre Ulysses Award aims to:

Furthermore, by providing a platform for these texts, the award contributes to an awareness of the world and of the simultaneity of diverse and contradictory cultures, mentalities, values, living conditions and dynamics.

Finally, to establish: a laboratory for the genre; a reference point for excellent literary reportage for publishers, authors, translators; a detector of relevant themes; a platform for reporters and journalists, allowing for exchange, cooperation and discussion

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