Premio Trieste Next - Science Book of the Year

Trieste next. Science book of the year Award

The shortlist

Viaggio nel mondo invisibile. Micorganismi, salute e cambiamento climatico. Il difficile equilibrio della vita sulla terra (Abaco), Antonella Fioravanti
Storia del mondo in 10 tempeste. Nebbia, uragani e grandi battaglie (Il Saggiatore), Vincenzo Levizzani
Vertigine. Storie di chi si affida alla scienza e di chi impara a farlo (Mondadori), Beatrice Mautino
Medicina femminile plurale. Il sapere delle donne nella storia (Bollati Moringhieri), Daniela Minerva
La pelle che pensa. Il tatto come linguaggio universale, tra filosofia, neuroscienze e tabù sociali (Codice), Marta Paterlini

The Award

The Award aims to foster publishing projects – with a particular focus on the quality of writing – that narrate and analyse the world of science, addressing both research and scientific dissemination as well as the ethical and philosophical issues connected to them.

Book-selection method

The call for applications is broadcasted online, as well as sent to publishing houses and public and private research institutes. Already published texts and unpublished works – available in electronic or paper format – will be admitted to the selection.The evaluation and selection process for the competing works will actively involve enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, managers, and young graduates, who are invited to join the “Readers' Jury”.
The competition will examine fiction, nonfiction and biographies, without focusing on their category.The nominated works will compete for the Award and only one book will be the winner among the participants.The Award will be given to books published between June 1st, 2025 and May 31st, 2026. The books that will not meet the release date will be excluded from the final selection.

Organization of the Award

The “Science Book of the Year” Literary Award is curated by the Prize Directorate, part of ItalyPost. The Directorate establishes the schedule and chronology of events, including the date of the final ceremony, year by year. Authors must be participating in the Award Ceremony – scheduled at the Trieste Next-Festival of Scientific Research, from 25th to 27th September, 2026 –, under penalty of exclusion from the final selection of the Award.The Award Directorate will select 15 titles deemed worthy by June 19th, 2026. These books will be submitted to the Scientific Jury, which will select the five finalists by July 11th, 2026, in an online meeting.The books will thus be submitted to the Readers' Jury, which will vote during the Trieste Next-Festival of Scientific Research, where the Award ceremony will take part.

Prize

The prize will consist in:
• The purchase of 20 copies of each shortlisted book
• The purchase of 50 copies of the winning book

Selection bodies

Technical Secretariat of the Award. The Technical Secretariat of the Award establishes the eligibility of 15 works submitted by publishing houses for the Scientific Jury to judge. The verdict of the Directorate of the Award is unquestionable.
Scientific Jury. The Scientific Jury composed by scientists and journalists – which will select the shortlist presented by the Prize Directorate – is chaired by Donata Vianelli, Rector of the University of Trieste. When voting, each member of the Scientific Jury, including the President, declares their own shortlist among the 15 books admitted by the Prize Directorate. The five works that receive the highest number of votes from the Scientific Jury will be shortlisted. If two or more works tie for fifth place in the rankings, a new round of voting will be conducted between the two titles competing for fifth place; the most voted work will enter the shortlist.
Readers' Jury. Each year, the Award’s Technical Secretariat appoints a Jury of Readers composed of entrepreneurs, teachers, representatives of trade associations and research institutes and young graduates from faculties related to the Award’s topics. The members must meet the geographical distribution criteria and must belong to a professional and disciplinary field of the ones identified by the Scientific Jury. To apply to the Readers' Jury, fill out this form.
Code of conduct of Juries. Jurors are called upon to comply with a “Code of Conduct” that provides for compliance with the principles of Objectivity and Independence of Judgment. In order to ensure that all candidates are judged with the same parameters, jurors are committed to ensuring an objective analysis of the texts, avoiding the possibility that the judging activity could be influenced by subjective impressions or professional constraints. For this purpose, jurors whose professional role in companies referenced in the materials examined constitutes a conflict of interest with the works in competition are required to abstain from judgment.

Click here to apply to the Readers' Jury

Award guidelines

The participation is free. The books must be written in Italian. By applying for the Award, the author accepts the final judgment of the Technical Secretariat, the Scientific Jury and the Readers' Jury.
Applying for the Award involves the participation in the events organized by the Award and in the final ceremony, which will be held in Trieste as part of the Trieste Next-Festival of Scientific Research (25th-27th September, 2026).

When submitting their application, publishers or authors wishing to participate in the competition must submit the PDF version of the volume via a special form (found at the bottom of this page) and ship 5 physical copies of the book by June 19th, 2026 addressed to the Science Book Prize Secretariat (it will be considered the reception date of the parcel). The books must be sent free of charge and will not be returned.
Publishers or authors who will be in the first 15 selected works must send an additional 20 copies of the volumes, free of charge, to the Prize Secretariat, which will deliver them to each member of the Scientific Jury, to the Prize Promoters, or which will use them for public relations matters.
The Award Directorate will be responsible for delivering the five shortlisted volumes, in digital format, to the 200 anonymous members of the Readers' Jury.

Submitting of applications

To submit your application, you must fill in the form available at this link no later than June 19th, 2026.

Award ceremony

Barring unforeseeable major events, the winner must be personally accepting the prize, under penalty of exclusion from the final selection of the Award.

The winner of the third edition

Martina Ardizzi’s L’algoritmo bipede. L’avvincente storia di come mente, corpo e tecnologia evolvono insieme (Egea, 2025) is the winner of the third edition of the Trieste Next. Science Book of the Year Literary Award.