Two years after her tragic death, Ukrainian writer, human rights activist was posthumously awarded the prestigious Orwell Prize for her book Looking at Women, Looking at War on 25 June 2025. She is the first Ukrainian writer to receive the prize.
- Prize announcement
- Chytomo news-feature
- The Guardian, book review: Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina review – a precious and powerful work of literature
- In memoriam Victoria Amelina (1986-2023) (IWM, Documenting Ukraine programme)
The prize worth £3,000 was received by Amelina’s husband Oleksandr Amelin, who stated that the prize money would be allocated to support the New York Literary Festival his late wife founded in 2021 and held in New York, the village in Donetsk oblast.
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing (1994 – ): This Prize (previously, the Orwell Prize for Books) is for a work of non-fiction, whether a book or pamphlet, first published in the UK or Ireland. ‘Political’ is defined in the broadest sense, including (but not limited to) entries addressing political, social, cultural, moral and historical subjects and can include pamphlets, books published by think tanks, diaries, memoirs, letters and essays.