The Alice Salomon Poetry Prize 2025 will be awarded to the Ukrainian artist and writer Yevgenia Belorusets. The jury was particularly impressed by the "poetic, touching and at the same time vivid depiction of everyday life" with which Belorusets addresses "social grievances and, among other things, more recently the effects of the war on the civilian population in Ukraine".
About the prizewinner
Yevgenia Belorusets was born in Ukraine and lives in Berlin and Kiev. She works with photography and other art forms at the interface of art, literature and activism. With her photographic work, she collects stories from everyday life and draws attention to the most vulnerable in Ukrainian society, be it queer families, unemployed miners, Roma or residents of the areas in the east of the country that have long been affected by the war. Her documentation of the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022 has attracted particular attention in Germany.
Belorusets' multifaceted work has been awarded prizes: in 2020, she received the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) International Literature Prize for her fictional work "Lucky Breaks". The short prose collection, published in German as "Glückliche Fälle", deals with the individual fates of women in a traumatized society, among other things. For her work "A Wartime Diary", she was awarded the Special Prize for Artistic Promotion by the Ernst Schering Foundation in 2022. Her wartime diary, consisting of photos and texts, was initially published in Der Spiegel until it appeared as a book under the title "Anfang des Krieges" (2022). Her most recent work, "On the Modern Life of Animals" (2024), contains reports and stories of possible and impossible animal occurrences, for example of a tiger in the basement of a Kiev café. Belorusets' works were exhibited in the Ukrainian pavilion at the 56th and 59th Venice Biennale.
Belorusets: "It is a great honor and joy for me! The prize speaks of the autonomy and self-determination of art, including in its endeavors to do social work, to serve human rights, to work scientifically. Art dreams of its own usefulness and does not allow itself to remain useful. The figure of Alice Salomon reminds us all how much bravery it takes to think humanely and posthumanely in these dark times."
Jury statement
Belorusets impressed the jury with her "wide artistic range and interdisciplinarity". In her texts and photographs, she "takes the reader and viewer along with her with empathy and directness like a camerawoman" and "simultaneously unfolds the surreal and metaphorical potential of the situations". According to the jury, her works are politically committed and make an important contribution to social action in society.
Award ceremony
The prize will be awarded during the university's summer party on June 26, 2025. Media representatives and interested parties are cordially invited to attend the event. An invitation with all details will be sent out closer to the date of the event.
The Alice Salomon Poetry Prize
With the Alice Salomon Poetics Prize, ASH Berlin honors artists who contribute to the further development of literary, visual and acoustic arts through their special formal language and diversity, always working and acting in an interdisciplinary manner. The award comes with prize money of 6,000 euros. In addition, the artists are given the opportunity to present their literary approach in a lecture and to design the south façade of the university.
In 2006, the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin introduced the Master's course "Biographical and Creative Writing" - in the course of which the Alice Salomon Poetry Prize was awarded for the first time in 2007. To date, 14 artists have received the prize: Gerhard Rühm, Michael Roes, Rebecca Horn, Valeri Scherstjanoi, Eugen Gomringer, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Andreas Steinhöfel, Franz Hohler, Volker Ludwig, Elfriede Czurda, Barbara Köhler, Christoph Szalay, Lioba Happel and Maxi Obexer.
Interview opportunities
We are happy to arrange interviews with Yevgenia Belorusets for members of the press. Please contact us by e-mail at hochschulkommunikation@ ash-berlin.eu.
Press use of the photo of Yevgenia Belorusets is free of charge with a copyright notice on the image. The copyright lies with Yao Tsy. Please click here to download.