Szczepan Twardoch wins 30th Nike Literary Award for novel Null

Szczepan Twardoch has won the 30th edition of the Nike Literary Award, Poland’s most prestigious literary prize, for his novel ‘Null’. The announcement was made on October 4, 2026, during a gala at the University of Warsaw Library. Twardoch also secured the Nike Readers' Award, marking a double victory.

‘Null’, published by Marginesy, explores the experience of the war in Ukraine through the eyes of a Polish volunteer known as ‘Koń’. The narrative focuses on the brutal reality of the front line, described by jury chairman Witold Bereś as a space defined by fear, mud, and the absence of romanticized heroism. Bereś noted that the novel’s strength lies in its exceptional literary quality and its raw, non-politically correct language that captures the technical and physical realities of 21st-century warfare.

The winner receives a statuette designed by Gustaw Zemła and 100,000 PLN. Twardoch, who has been a finalist four times previously, described the work as his ‘most important book,’ stating he wrote it to ‘tell the truth’ rather than to promote a specific political thesis.