On 6 December, Barbara Radziwiłł’s birthday, Vilnius Town Hall will host the first National Women’s Awards “In the Queen’s Name” (Karalienės vardu). The new nationwide initiative is presented by “Slapta meilė” founder, designer, artist and cultural curator Julija Janus together with journalist and event organiser Saugirdas Vaitulionis. Their aim is a new tradition that every year turns the whole country’s attention to women’s outstanding achievements.
The essentials
- Ceremony: 6 December, Vilnius Town Hall, honouring outstanding women of Lithuania.
- Week of events: 30 November – 6 December across Lithuania – exhibitions, theatre, film screenings, discussions and meetings about women’s stories, creativity and achievements.
- Reach: according to the organisers, many event organisers, cultural institutions and communities have joined in the very first year, and the event map covers 40 municipalities – not only the big cities but also smaller towns and regions.
- Inspiration: Barbara Radziwiłł, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Queen of Poland. Her birthday became the symbolic date of the awards.
- Goal: not only to found new national awards but to change how women’s contribution to building Lithuania’s state, culture and society is seen.
Women’s achievements are not a given
It seems to me that in Lithuania we still tend to take women’s achievements for granted. A woman leads an organisation, builds a business, makes a scientific discovery, grows a community, preserves cultural heritage. Wonderful. But nobody stops to think that at the same time many of them also give birth, raise children and look after the home. (…) And we still face situations where women are paid less than men doing the same work.
Julija Janus
Why Barbara Radziwiłł
For years Julija Janus has been researching the Renaissance history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and bringing it to today’s audience, above all the personality of Barbara Radziwiłł. She is the founder of the cultural heritage laboratory “Slapta meilė”, the author of the idea and one of the curators of the National Museum of Lithuania’s international exhibition “The Queen, the Kingdom and the Feelings”, and the author of the historical detective novel “Nematoma ranka” dedicated to Barbara.
Many people know Barbara first of all for her love story with Sigismund Augustus. Julija sees her as a free, stubborn and ambitious woman who never gave up the right to choose her own life. That courage and independence became the symbol of the whole project, and Barbara herself a bridge between the past and women’s achievements today.
For a long time I have been wondering why we so easily adopt other countries’ traditions and symbols while hardly noticing our own. We have an extraordinarily rich history, vivid personalities and events we could be proud of. I wanted to create a new Lithuanian tradition that would not only remind us of our history but also give today’s women’s achievements a national stage.
Julija Janus
Not only famous names
Co-author of the initiative Saugirdas Vaitulionis is convinced that Lithuania has no shortage of women who deserve the highest recognition, yet many of them never receive the attention they have earned.
Sometimes it seems a person first has to be noticed by the world before we notice them too. And how many women in Lithuania do incredible things every day, yet nobody writes or talks about them or gives them awards? We want to change that. (…) Perhaps somewhere in a small Lithuanian town lives a woman whose work deserves the biggest stage – it’s just that nobody has invited her onto it yet.
Saugirdas Vaitulionis
Ambition without fear
The organisers hope that “In the Queen’s Name” will grow into a phenomenon uniting all of Lithuania, and the National Women’s Awards into one of the country’s most important annual honours. Julija Janus hopes the initiative will encourage women not only to be proud of their achievements but also to speak more boldly about their ambitions.
With this project I would like to change one thing – our attitude to women’s ambitions. For some reason an ambitious man usually looks strong and promising, while an ambitious woman is still sometimes seen as too demanding, inconvenient or wanting too much. Maybe it is time to stop being afraid of that?
Julija Janus
Barbara – where our story begins too
“Slapta meilė” was born from the same story – the love of Barbara Radziwiłł and Sigismund Augustus. You can still meet Barbara today: on a walking tour in Vilnius Old Town following her footsteps, in our audio guide or in Julija Janus’s novel.
Based on the organisers’ press release, 4 November 2026. Read also (in Lithuanian): 15min.lt / Žmonės.lt and Delfi Veidai.
