Award Ceremony – Johan Polak Poetry Prize

We are proud to announce that as of 2025, Poetry International has been entrusted with the honourable task of organizing and presenting a remarkable award: the Johan Polak Poetry Prize. 

This prize, which has been awarded since 2024 to the best poetry collection of the past three years, comes with a monetary reward of €50,000. It is funded by the Johan Polak Foundation for the Preservation of Special Books. The board of the Johan Polak Poetry Prize appoints a professional jury responsible for selecting the winning collection. In 2024, Sasja Janssen's collection Virgula (2021) won the prize.  

On May 20th the winner of this year was announced: Waar is het lam? (2022) by Mustafa Stitou. On June 15th the winner will be celebrated with a festive award ceremony at the Poetry International Festival at LantarenVenster. The event will be hosted by Jasper Henderson and directed by Yahmani Blackman, with a tailor-made programme created in collaboration with the Mustafa Stitou.