The BNG Literature Award is a lifetime achievement award presented annually to Dutch-language writers at the beginning of their literary career. The award is specifically aimed at authors who have published their second, third, or fourth literary prose work.
The winner receives a cash prize of €15.000 and a unique sculpture, designed by artist Theo van Eldik. With this award, the BNG Culture Fund aims to encourage literary talent and recognise authors with a promising future in Dutch-language literature.
The book must meet the following conditions:
Joke van Vliet has won the BNG Literature Award 2025 with her book Niets is echt gebeurd (Nothing Really Happened). The prize was awarded on 26 February by jury chairman Pieter Jeroense at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam. The jury described the book as a “stylistically gifted, psychologically layered and accurate novel in which the tension is greatly heightened”.
Van Vliet is the 21st winner of this prestigious prize, but the first without the age limit that used to apply. As the jury eloquently put it, this is because “age discrimination is simply no longer appropriate in this day and age. Writers regularly make their debut at an older age, which means that their literary careers also get off the ground later in life”.
This year, the readers' jury, consisting of BNG employees, chose Coco Schrijber with her book Het gezoem van bijna alles (The Buzzing of Almost Everything). As the winner of the readers' jury prize, Coco will be able to stay at the Roland Holsthuis in Bergen for a month.
Read the full jury report (in Dutch)
The jury consists of:
The BNG Culture Fund supports the arts and culture sector in the Netherlands. Read more about what the fund does.
For questions about the BNG Culture Fund, please contact:
Ana Buzón
Secretary of the BNG Culture Fund