Aleksandrs Čaks Prize

Aleksandrs Čaks Prize is awarded since 2001.

The prize is awarded biennially in the following categories:

·         for high-quality artistic and innovative portrayal of Riga in literature, music, film, stage or visual art, book publishing, design or architecture;

·         for notable contribution to the research of Aleksandrs Čaks literary heritage, its preservation, promotion and translation.

The prize is awarded by the Education, Culture and Sports Department of Riga City Council in cooperation with Aleksandrs Čaks Society, Association of Culture Institutions of Riga City Council and Aleksandrs Čaks Historic Apartment Museum.

The call for the contenders for the Prize is published on the Department's web-page www.kultura.riga.lv.

·         The contenders for the Prize may be put forward by any natural person or legal entity for creation of high-quality artistic products that comply with the Prize categories.

·         For the evaluation of the contenders, the director of the Department sets up a commission  of 7 (seven) members, head of the commission and deputy head of the commission among them. The commission should include representatives from the Association and the Society.

·         If necessary, the commission may invite experts from particular fields to participate in its work.

·         The minutes of the commission's meeting are taken down by its member - representative of the Association. The minutes are signed by the minute taker and the head of the commission.

·         The commission evaluates the submitted applications and makes a decision by open vote, voting separately about each contender.

·         The commission has the right to adopt a decision if at least 5 commission members are present in the meeting. The decision about awarding the Prize is made by a simple majority of vote. If the contender has received an equal number of votes, the head of the commission has the deciding vote. If any of the commission members disagree with the decision, their opinion is recorded in the minutes of the meeting. In the absence of the head of the commission, the meetings are conducted by the deputy head of commission.

·         If a member of the commission has a personal stake in any application, they are obliged to inform other members of the commission and abstain from evaluation of the respective application.

·         If necessary, the commission may decide about changes in the number of the Prizes and prize categories, as well as the number of nominated contenders. All such decision should be recorded in the minutes of the commission's meeting.

·         Based on the commission's decision, the Prize may not be awarded in any of the categories or several equal Prizes may be awarded in each category, or a special Prize may be awarded.

·         The commission has the right to decide about the amount of monetary prize in each category.

·         After the Prize has been awarded, the minutes of the commission and the materials submitted to the commission are kept in Aleksandrs Čaks Museum (part of the Association) in accordance with the classification of documents.

·         Based on the commission's decision, the director of the Department issues the warrant to award the contenders with monetary prizes.

·         Each award winner receives the Prize statuette and the Certificate of Recognition from the Department.

·         The award winners receive monetary prizes in compliance with the budget allocated by the municipality.

·         The total prize fund for the monetary prizes is 4500.00 euro (four thousand five hundred euro and 00 cents) before statutory taxes.