Awards and prizes of the 2025 Nová dráma/New Drama festival: we know the winner of the Grand Prix
(17 May 2025, Bratislava) On Saturday, at the closing ceremony of the 21st Nová dráma/New Drama festival, the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre became the winner of the Grand Prix for its production A Dog on the Road. For this production, the National Theatre also won the Bratislava Audience Award and received another prize for the production Tatarka. This year, all theatres and creative teams performing in the main programme were awarded the Special Prize of the Jury for their faith in the power of theatre. During the closing ceremony, the prizes of the 2024 DRAMA contest were awarded as well.
The Nová dráma/New Drama festival in Bratislava is organized annually by the Theatre Institute. This year’s event took place between the 12th and 17th of May 2025.
The Grand Prix of the 2025 Nová dráma/New Drama was awarded to the production A Dog on the Road (Slovak National Theatre, 2024, directed by Dušan D. Pařízek) by the festival’s international jury which included the Georgian theatrologist Lela Ochiauri, the Polish critic Dorota Buchwald, and the Romanian theatrologist and cultural mediator Octavian Saiu who works in Hong Kong.
“I would like to congratulate the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre for their outstanding success at the 21st edition of the festival. It received recognition from all sides proving that its dramaturgy is not only strong but the only one possible. Personally, I appreciate the special award of our international jury – they dedicated it to all the participating performers for their faith in the power of theatre. They understood the momentum and acknowledged that although theatre may not change the world, it can make it more bearable to live in. Considering that this prize travelled here from contemporary Georgia, Poland, and Romania, I am convinced that the strength of theatre also lies in its international connections and the exchange of experiences – and not just the positive ones,” said Vladislava Fekete, director of the Nová dráma/New Drama festival.
This year, the Special Prize of the Jury was awarded to all theatres, associations, and individuals whose productions were presented in the festival’s main programme: Batyskaf, Theatre on the Platform, City Theatre Žilina, Peter Mazalán, Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre, Slovak Chamber Theatre Martin, Tears of Janko Borodáč and Uhol_92.
The productions were nominated for the main programme earlier this year by the festival’s dramaturgy board that included the theatrologist Karol Mišovic, the theatre dramaturg and critic Alexandra Rychtarčíková, and the theatre critic Ivana Topitkalová. The board made their selection from more than 80 productions.
The Student Jury Award was given to the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre for its production Tatarka, directed by Dávid Paška, by five arts and humanities students: Aneta Bocková, Zdenka Bodnárová, Nikoleta Jakušová, Samuel Sokol, and Adam Zelinka. During the week, they were writing texts for the festival daily Festník – Nová reflexia (Festly – New Reflections) where they discussed all of the presented productions.
Festival audiences voted to choose a production to win the Bratislava Audience Award – this year’s award went to the Slovak National Theatre and its production A Dog on the Road.
Awards and prizes of the 2025 Nová dráma/New Drama festival
GRAND PRIX NOVÁ DRÁMA/NEW DRAMA 2025
Pavel Vilikovský – Dušan D. Pařízek: A Dog on the Road
(directed by Dušan D. Pařízek)
Slovak National Theatre
SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY
To all performers for their faith in the power of theatre
STUDENT JURY AWARD
Dominik Tatarka – Dávid Paška: Tatarka
(directed by Dávid Paška)
Slovak National Theatre
BRATISLAVA AUDIENCE AWARD
Pavel Vilikovský – Dušan D. Pařízek: A Dog on the Road
(directed by Dušan D. Pařízek)
Slovak National Theatre
Prizes in the 2024 DRAMA contest for best dramatic text
The closing ceremony also included the announcement of the 2024 DRAMA competition of original texts written in Slovak or Czech. The winner of the 25th contest is Lenka Čepková with her text Fine, Thank You. “Congratulations to the winner, who will receive a financial prize of 1,000 euros. The awarded dramatic texts will be published in an electronic collection, making the works accessible to theatre makers as well as the general public. The co-organizers of the competition have also awarded special prizes to selected texts, which they will subsequently stage in various forms. One of the prizes was awarded by the competition’s partner STVR – Radio Devín, which will perform the selected text in a radio adaptation,” said Anna Šoltýsová, coordinator from the Theatre Institute, the annual organizer of the DRAMA contest.
MAIN AWARDS OF THE DRAMA 2024 CONTEST:
1. Lenka Čepková: Fine, Thank You
2. Michal Belej: Cassandra
3. Ján Mičuch: Oyvind, the Cottager’s Son
SPECIAL PRIZES OF THE 2024 DRAMA CONTEST:
Studio 12 Prize: Lenka Čepková for the text Fine, Thank You
Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre Prize: Michal Belej for the text Cassandra
Ján Palárik Theatre Prize: Marek Hudec for the text It Wasn’t An Accident
Jozef Gregor Tajovský Theatre Prize: Michal Belej for the text Cassandra
Drama Department of the National Theatre in Prague Prize: Lenka Čepková for the text Fine, Thank You
JORIK Stage of the Puppet Theatre in the Košice Region Prize: Michal Belej for the text Cassandra
Radio Devín Prize: Gabriela Gabašová for the text Escape
47 texts were submitted to enter the 2024 DRAMA contest, out of which 24 were written in Czech and 23 in Slovak. The dramatic texts were assessed by Mário Drgoňa, a dramaturgy lecturer at the Drama Department of the Slovak National Theatre; Vladislava Fekete, director of the Theatre Institute; Nina Jacques, a dramaturg of the Drama Department of the National Theatre in Prague; Lukáš Kopas, the artistic director of the Puppet Theatre of the Košice region; and Martina Mašlárová, chair of the jury, theatrologist and dramaturg of the Jan Palárik Theatre in Trnava.
Nová dráma/New Drama festival of contemporary theatre, which has been organized by the Theatre Institute for two decades, is a competition festival presenting the best productions of Slovak and international drama staged by professional theatres in Slovakia in the current and preceding theatre seasons (between 1 February 2024 and 31 January 2025). Every year, the festival is held under the auspices of the Mayor of Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. The patron of the 21st edition of the festival was the Irish playwright Marina Carr, who also led a masterclass for the public on the 13th of May as part of the festival’s accompanying programme.
The festival team wishes to thank the partner theatres, including the Slovak National Theatre, P*AKT – Cultural Centre, House of Culture Zrkadlový háj, A4 – Space for Contemporary Culture, and the festival partners: HAUERLAND.SK / KVETINÁREŇ.SK / SLOVENSKÝ FILMOVÝ ÚSTAV / DRAMOX / ŠMELKO WINERY.
Thanks go also to the media partners: RÁDIO DEVÍN / TASR / PRAVDA / PLAN.ART / IN.BA / BRATISLAVSKÉ NOVINY / ART & HISTORY MAGAZINE / KøD – KONKRÉTNE ø DIVADLE / GREGI.NET / CITYLIFE.SK.
