The Nordic vision: Broadcasting Nordicness in the televised Nordic Council prize ceremonies

Abstract

Since 2013, the Nordic Council prizes have been awarded at live broadcast ceremonies in the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council Prize in Literature is the most prestigious, but like the other prizes, it is also part of a regional political project by the Nordic Council based on a culture of prize-giving. Rather than focusing on book content or the literary award alone, this article investigates the prize-giving ceremony. It examines how the idea of the Nordic is expressed in the prize-giving culture of broadcasted ceremonies from 2013 to 2023. It explores how organizers use narratives, audio, text, and visuals in the ceremonies to convey the prizes' meaning through an arrangement merging culture, politics, and media. The article shows the prizes are tied to the broader regional political project—the promotion of a Nordic “imagined community.” The ceremony must navigate the paradox of being both a competition between Nordic countries and an expression of Nordic cooperation. National characteristics are downplayed by avoiding national symbols, shifting focus to Nordic identity. This article contributes to the study of (literary) prize culture by showing how such prizes can be vehicles for a broader political project.