On Friday, 2 October, an international jury held a partially remote meeting to evaluate nominees for the Baltic Assembly (BA) Prize, and decided that this year, the BA Prize in Science will be awarded to physicist Roberts Eglītis. Eglītis, Member of the Latvian Academy of Science, will receive the award for the research cycle, entitled “Theoretical predictions of new materials for energy storage and harvesting”.

The BA Prize in Literature will be awarded to novelist, poet and essayist Birutė Jonuškaitė for her novel cycle “Maranta” and “Maestro”, which belong with the long, branched-out texts that weave numerous storylines, with detailed characters, which possess the versatility and depth of the classic canon, and which raise the language to the heights characteristic of the hefty book of conversations “Laikas ir likimai” (“Time and Destinies”).

The BA Prize in the Arts will be awarded to directors Kristīne Briede and Audrius Stonys for the movie “Bridges of Time”, which was co-produced by Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian studios and portrays the less-remembered generations of cinema poets of the Baltic New Wave.

The monetary value of each prize is EUR 5000, which will be awarded during the annual BA Session on 5 November 2020.

The international jury was composed of nine experts in literature, science and the arts from Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. Latvian members of the jury included writer Inga Žolude, theatre critic Edīte Tišheizere-Leščinska, and Vice President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Andrejs Krasņikovs.

The other nominees for the BA Prize in each category were:

in literature:

• Andris Akmentiņš (Latvia). Writer, nominated for his novel “Skolotāji” (“Teachers”);
• Mart Kivastik (Estonia). Writer, nominated for his novel “Taevatrepp” (“Stairway to Heaven”);

in the arts:

• Silvija Grosa (Latvia). Professor, Head of the Art Academy of Latvia Art History Department, nominated for her monograph “Dekors Rīgas Jūgendstila perioda arhitektūrā” (“Decor in the Architecture of Riga of the Art Nouveau Period”);
• Šarūnas Sauka (Lithuania). Painter, nominated for his unique iconography of paintings and principles of painting, which are closely related to surrealism and magical realism;

in science:

• Anna Verschik (Estonia). Linguist, nominated for her broad view of socio-linguistics, long-standing contribution to research communication and studies, as well as her scientific publications and research papers in the field of language contacts in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia;
• Jurgis Kazimieras Staniškis (Lithuania). The initiator of transdisciplinary research and studies in the Baltic Region was nominated for his transdisciplinary research “Sustainable development: global and local solutions”.

The BA Prize was established in 1994 and since then has been awarded to several well-known scientists, artists and cultural workers. Last year, the Prize in Literature was awarded to writer Leelo Tungal (Estonia), the Prize in the Arts was given to conductor Normunds Šnē (Latvia), while the Prize in Science was awarded to professor Jūras Banys (Lithuania).

Photos from the international jury meeting:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/saeima/albums/72157716214548493
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