“This year, it is particularly telling that among the ambitions and achievements of the shortlisted nominees is the ability to retain and expand their readership,” said Iryna Baturevych, co-founder of the Award and a member of its organizing committee, in a statement. “This is the most pressing challenge facing the market today.”

By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief

The Ukrainian book industry magazine Chytomo has announced the shortlist for the 2025 Chytomo Awards, which honor those who are “transforming Ukraine’s publishing industry and sharing Ukrainian literature worldwide.” Organizers said this year’s competition received 82 nominations across three categories. The winners of will be announced on January 29 in Kyiv.

The shortlist for the 2025 Chytomo Awards include:

Publishing Market Trendsetter

• Vivat Publishing Ltd
• Komubook Publishing House
• Sense Bookstore
• Ukrainian Book Institute
• Litosvita School of Creative and Professional Writing

Ambassador of the Ukrainian Book

• André Störr, CEO of Friedrich Mauke Verlag, Weimar, Germany
• Halyna Kruk, Ukrainian writer and translator
• Claudia Dathe, German translator, project coordinator at the University of Tübingen, and one of the initiators of the Translit network
• Dr. Oleh Kotsyuba, Director of Print and Digital Publications at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Editor-in-Chief of the online journal Krytyka
• Yuliya Kozlovets, Director of the International Book Arsenal Festival

Reading Promotion Book Initiative

• Nationwide Radio Dictation of National Unity
• NGO Frontera Literary Platform
• The “Book to the Front” initiative, Cultural Forces
• Nedopysani
• Kharkiv Literary Museum

“This year, it is particularly telling that among the ambitions and achievements of the shortlisted nominees is the ability to retain and expand their readership,” said Iryna Baturevych, co-founder of the Award and a member of its organizing committee, in a statement. “This is the most pressing challenge facing the market today. It is precisely the ability to attract and bring together new  as well as existing readers that will determine what publishing in Ukraine looks like in the future. The past year has shown how difficult this is, especially against the backdrop of crises that continue to deepen in wartime conditions.”

The Chytomo Awards are sponsored by the International Renaissance Foundation, and held in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse. The winners will receive a cash prize, and one of the nominees in the “Publishing Market Trendsetter” category will also receive the Frankfurter Buchmesse Special Award, which includes a booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

This year’s jury for the Chytomo Award includes: Oleksandr Mymruk, Head of the Chytomo public organization and managing editor of the Chytomo book media; Hryhorii Baran, Director of the “Social Capital” Program at the International Renaissance Foundation; Anton Martynov, Founder of the Laboratory Publishing House and the Librarius.pro reading app; Vlatka Kupska (Germany-Czechia), Senior Manager at the Frankfurt Book Fair for Central and Eastern European markets; Svetlozar Zhelev (Bulgaria), Director of the National Book Center at the National Palace of Culture; Fiona Greenland (U.S.A.), Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia, researcher of cultural heritage and the Ukrainian literary process; and Sasha Dovzhyk, Head of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange.