WILLEMSTAD – The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (ESKD), in collaboration with UNESCO Curaçao, has opened the nomination period for candidates for the UNESCO Curaçao Mother Language Award for Papiamentu.
All nominations must be submitted to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Curaçao no later than January 9, 2026. The 2026 award will recognize work produced in 2025, with activities that took place during that year. Nominations must be submitted by a third party and may concern an institution, organization, group of individuals, or a jury. The jury will determine whether a nomination is valid. Submitted materials must clearly demonstrate outstanding merit and a positive contribution to the development of the Papiamentu language.
UNESCO approved International Mother Language Day in 1999, with the first global observance held in 2000. In 2003, the former Netherlands Antilles marked the occasion for the first time by establishing a mother language award under the then Ministry of Education and Culture. The purpose of International Mother Language Day is to raise awareness of the value of language as a shared heritage of humanity and to highlight the importance of linguistic diversity.
In Curaçao, the Mother Language Award forms part of a broader set of activities organized by the government and other stakeholders to promote and strengthen the mother tongue of the majority of the population: Papiamentu. The award also serves to recognize institutions, organizations, groups, or individuals within the community who have demonstrated exceptional merit and achieved effective results that contribute to the development of the Papiamentu language.
Another key objective of the award is to foster and maintain public appreciation for the mother language. Each year, the name or names of the award recipient(s) are announced on February 21, International Mother Language Day.
More information about the nomination process can be found in the information brochure titled Foyeto Premio Materno Papiamentu 2025. Candidates can be nominated between December 13, 2025 and January 9, 2026 (inclusive) by completing the online form available via the following link: https://forms.gle/beTCLsh2gjBD8QyU8, or by scanning the QR code provided in the brochure.
The organizers encourage the community to continue working together for the development of Curaçao’s cherished mother language, Papiamentu, which forms the foundation of the nation’s identity, education, and instruction.
