The award ceremony took place on Saturday, May 30, 2026 during the Brunch with a New Play in front of the VILA Štvanice Theater. The event was part of the celebrations marking the 20^th anniversary of the LETÍ Theater. 

Kristýna Nebeská is a senior screenwriting and dramaturgy student at FAMU, as well as an author, dramaturg and director. Her work has long focused on adaptations of literary works and portrayals of the lives of forgotten figures. Maxim Bitto is an author and director currently studying Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. He is active in the JEDL workshop, where he has created several productions together with Kristýna. He has also collaborated with JAMU and the Viola Theater. He is interested in adapting both prose and poetry into dramatic forms.

The Curse of the Mann House is a play about the Mann siblings, members of a family in which everyone, in their own way, is a genius. A family so exceptional that it is impossible to live outside of it, because no one can match them. And that is their fate – an exclusivity that comes at a price, especially when the world around them is losing its mind and the shadow of Hitler’s regime looms over the Europe.

“We are telling a story about young people for young people. But we don’t want to appeal exclusively to them. The main themes – a troubled relationship with a father, generational conflicts, love – remain universally relevant to anyone who isn’t afraid to explore certain depths within themselves. Regardless of age or any other factor,” says Kristýna Nebeská.

Štěpán Klinkovský took the second place for his translation of Bookpink by Caren Jeß from German. He is currently studying theatre studies at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. He also works as an archivist at the Slovácké Theatre in Uherské Hradiště and writes theatre reviews. He has been invited twice to the finals of František Halas Literary Competition. He is fluent in English and German and is also studying Modern Greek.

The third place went to Helena Rychlík for her original musical libretto The World Has Gone Mad, taking her play KOS into consideration, for which she was also nominated. Helena Rychlík is a student of dramaturgy at JAMU. Her works have been staged in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The musical The World Has Gone Mad is based on the album of the same name by the band Shizzle Orchestra.

Six authors with a total of six texts advanced to the finals of this year’s Evalda Schorm Award. In addition to the winners, Alisa Smolina was nominated for her original play Cancer and Adolf Adam for his original play Terminal Station, All Aboard!.

“For more than two decades, the Evald Schorm Award has given us the opportunity to discover new creative voices and support young theatre artists at the start of their professional careers. The creations of students often offer bold perspectives, new forms of storytelling and themes that resonate with contemporary society. Congratulations to this year’s winners! We wish them success in reaching audiences and securing further theatrical opportunities,” explains Jan Barták, director of DILIA.

Thanks to the Evald Schorm Award, named after the renowned Czech film and theatre director, DILIA has discovered a number of playwrights and translators who are now well-established and highly respected. The award-winning works have been adapted into more than 60 stage productions and dozens of radio plays to date.

Results of the Evalda Schorm Award:

• 1^st place - Maxim Bitto, Kristýna Nebeská (FF UK, FAMU) for a play The Curse of the Mann House
• 2^nd place - Štěpán Klinkovský (FF UK) for the translation of the German play Bookpink by Caren Jeß
• 3^d place - Helena Rychlík (JAMU) for a musical libretto The World Has Gone Mad, taking her original play KOS into consideration

All award-winning texts in Czech are available in DILIA.