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 ''Lettre International'' is the title of a number of cultural magazines published in various languages in Europe. The history of ''Lettre International'' dates back to 1984, the year that the original French edition (''Lettre Internationale'') fir ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and is organized by the Foundation Lettre International Award, a joint partnership between Lettre International and the Aventis Foundation. The

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

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 have included

Günter Grass Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born in the Free City of Da ...

, the German writer and winner of the 1999

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

, the Polish reportage author Ryszard Kapuściński, the French ethnologist Jean Malaurie, and the Belarusian writer

Svetlana Aleksievich Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suff ...

. The Lettre Ulysses Award is the first world prize in the reportage genre. The initiave ended in 2007, after the contract between the Foundation Lettre International Award and the Aventis Foundation ended and the foundation did not succeed in finding a new partner.

Award ceremony and prizes

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 US$20,000, respectively. Residencies in Berlin are awarded to the other four finalists.

Mission

The Lettre Ulysses Award aims to:

Nomination and selection process

The jury is composed of writers and journalists who work within the reportage genre. Their conference language is English, but they are native speakers drawn from the world's largest linguistic regions and as such guarantee the broadest possible language base. Each jury member is able to make up to two nominations for the award. Although it is likely that jury members will nominate from their own language group, in practice they can nominate works written in whichever languages they read. The composition of the jury and the languages represented are subject to partial annual change. Each jury member justifies his or her nominations in a written proposal accompanied by extracts of each text. These are, if necessary, translated into English and sent out to each jury member. Following the nominations, the first jury meeting is held. The number of nominees is reduced and a shortlist is drawn up after discussions centering on the criteria: relevance of subject; originality; complexity; credibility and authenticity; structure; language and style; and whatever other elements make a particular work outstanding. The shortlist contains seven texts. These texts are then translated in their entirety, if necessary, and sent to all jury members. The final decisions are made after all candidate texts have been entirely and thoroughly read by each and every jury member.

Past winners

2003

* 1st prize. Anna Politkovskaya, ''Tchétchénie: le déshonneur russe'', (Buchet/Chastel, Paris, 2003). * 2nd prize. Nuruddin Farah, ''Yesterday Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora'', (Continuum International, London, New York, 2000). * 3rd prize. Jiang Hao, ''Revealing the Secrets of Poachers'', (Qunzhong chubansche, Beijing, 2000).

2004

* 1st prize.

Chen Guidi Chen Guidi (陳桂棣; born November 1942) is a Chinese writer from Huaiyuan county, Anhui. The book ''A Survey of the Chinese Peasants'' (中国农民调查 / 中國農民調查 Zhōngguó Nóngmín Diàochá) which he co-wrote with his wife Wu C ...

and Wu Chuntao, ''Survey of Chinese Peasants'', (People's Literature Publication Company, Beijing 2003). * 2nd prize. Tracy Kidder, '' Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World'', (Random House, New York, 2003). * 3rd prize. Daniel Bergner, ''Soldiers of Light'' (Allen Lane/Penguin, London, 2004).

2005

* 1st prize.

Alexandra Fuller Alexandra Fuller (born in 1969 in Glossop, England) is a British- Rhodesian author. Her articles and reviews have appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' National Geographic'', ''Granta'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Guardian'' and ''The Financ ...

, ''Scribbling the Cat. Travels with an African Soldier'', (Penguin Press, New York, 2004). * 2nd prize.

Abdellah Hammoudi Abdellah Hammoudi (born in 1945) is a Moroccan anthropologist, ethnographer, and emeritus professor of anthropology at Princeton University. Biography Abdellah was born in Kalaat Sraghna in 1945. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy fr ...

, ''Une saison à la Mecque. Récit de pèlerinage'', (Seuil, Paris, 2004) Season in Mecca. Account of a Pilgrimage * 3rd prize. Riverbend, ''Baghdad Burning. Girl Blog from Iraq'', (The Feminist Press, New York, 2005. Published in the UK by Marion Boyars Publishers, London, 2005).

2006

* 1st prize. Linda Grant, ''The People on the Street. A Writer’s View of Israel'', (Virago Press, London, 2006). * 2nd prize.

Érik Orsenna Érik Orsenna is the pen-name of Érik Arnoult (born 22 March 1947) a French politician and novelist. After studying philosophy and political science at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris ("Sciences Po"), Orsenna specialized in economic ...

, ''Voyage aux pays du coton. Petit précis de mondialisation'', (Fayard, Paris, 2006) ourney to the Lands of Cotton. A Brief Manual of Globalisation * 3rd prize. Juanita León,{{cite web , url=http://www.lettre-ulysses-award.org/authors06/leon.html , title=Lettre Ulysses Award | Juanita León, Colombia ''País de plomo. Crónicas de guerra'', (Aguilar, 2005) ountry of Bullets. War Diaries

References

External links

Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage — official site

''Lettre International'' (Berlin) — official site

Journalism awards Awards established in 2003 German literary awards