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{{Infobox award
| name        = Nika Award
| awarded_for = Excellence in cinematic achievements
| presenter   = Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science
| country     = Russia
| year        = 17 December 1988
| website     = [http://kino-nika.com Official site of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science]
}}

{{Short description|Annual national film award in Russia}}
{{hatnote|Note to be confused with the [[Golden Eagle Award (Russia)|Golden Eagle Award]], conferred since 2002 by the [[National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences of Russia]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
The '''Nika Award''' (sometimes styled '''NIKA Award''') is the main annual national [[List of film awards|film award]] in Russia, presented by the '''Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science''', and seen as the national equivalent of the [[Academy Awards|Oscars]]. 

In 2022 nominees were announced, but the Award ceremony was postponed and, eventially, cancelled.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rg.ru/2022/10/07/ceremoniiu-vrucheniia-kinopremii-nika-perenesli-na-sleduiushchij-god.html|script-title=ru: Церемонию вручения кинопремии "Ника" перенесли на следующий год|author= Elena Sidorova|publisher=[[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]]|accessdate=2025-05-23|trans-title= The Nika Film Awards ceremony has been postponed until next year |language=Russian}}</ref>

The Award ceremony was also cancelled in 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/64cb121d9a79477fe38b4a9f
|script-title=ru: Гусман сообщил об отмене церемонии награждения премии «Ника» в 2023 году|publisher=[[RBK Group]]|date=3 August 2023|accessdate=2025-05-23|trans-title= Guzman announced the cancellation of the Nika award ceremony in 2023|language=Russian}}</ref>

==History==
The award was established in 1987 in Moscow by [[Yuli Gusman]],<ref name=condee>{{cite book | last1=Condee | first1=N. | last2=Prokhorov | first2=A. | last3=Prokhorova | first3=E. | title=Cinemasaurus: Russian Film in Contemporary Context | publisher=Academic Studies Press | series=Film and Media Studies | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-64469-374-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-HbDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT33 | access-date=23 August 2022 | page=33}}</ref> and ostensibly modelled on the [[Academy Awards|Oscars]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema| pages=1923–1927| author1=Richard Taylor| author2= Nancy Wood| author3= Julian Graffy| author4= Dina Iordanova| publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1838718497|date=2019}}</ref> The Russian award takes its name from [[Nike (mythology)|Nike]], the goddess of victory. Accordingly, the prize is modelled after the sculpture of the [[Winged Victory of Samothrace]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/20110407/361379209.html|script-title=ru: Национальная кинематографическая премия "Ника". Справка|publisher=[[RIA Novosti]]|accessdate=2025-05-24|trans-title= National Film Award "Nika". Reference |language=Russian}}</ref>

The oldest professional film award in Russia, the Nika Award was established during the final years of [[USSR]] by the influential [[Russian Union of Filmmakers]].<ref>[http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/16860.html Рейтинг телепрессы — Общество — Новая Газета<!-- The title was added by a bot -->]</ref>

At first the awards were judged by all the members of the Union of Filmmakers. In the early 1990s, a special academy, consisting of over 500 academicians, was elected for distributing the awards, which recognise outstanding achievements in cinema (not television) produced in Russia and the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]. 

In 2002 [[Nikita Mikhalkov]] established the competing [[Golden Eagle Award (Russia)|Golden Eagle Award]], modelled on the [[Golden Globe Awards]] as it honours both film and television production of Russia.<ref name=condee/>

==Description==
The award name is sometimes styled NIKA Awards.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Mjolsness | first1=L. | last2=Leigh | first2=M. | title=She Animates: Gendered Soviet and Russian Animation | publisher=Academic Studies Press | series=Film and Media Studies | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-64469-067-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86YWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT203 | access-date=23 August 2022 | page=203}}</ref>

The Nika Awards ceremony is broadcast annually and attracts huge publicity across Russia  and the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]].<ref>[http://ria.ru/culture/20130402/930671788.html Новый президент «Ники» Кончаловский ошеломлен оказанным ему доверием]</ref>

== Award categories ==

{{div col|colwidth=35em}}

===Current categories===
# [[Nika Award for Best Picture]]: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Nonfiction Film: since 1996
#  Nika Award for Best Animation Film: since 1988
#  [[Nika Award for Best Film of the CIS and Baltic States]]: since 2003
# [[Nika Award for Best Director]]: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Screenplay: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Cinematography: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Film Editing
# Nika Award for Best Music: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Production Design: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Costume Design: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Sound: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Actor: since 1988
# Nika Awards for Best Actress: since 1988
# Nika Award for Best Supporting Actor: since 2002
# Nika Award for Best Supporting Actress: since 2002
# [[Nika Award for the Lifetime Achievement Award]]: since 1988
# Nika Award "Honor and Dignity": since 1988
# [[Nika Award for Discovery of the Year]]: since 2002
# [[Nika Award for Best Contribution to the Cinematic Science, Criticism and Education]]: since 2002
# Special Nika Award for Contribution to the National Cinema Award: since 2007
# Special Nika Award for Creative Achievements in the Art of Television Film: since 2005

===Retired awards===
# [[Nika Award for Best Supporting Performance]] (awarded 1988–2001)
# Nika Award for Best Documentary (awarded 1988–1995)
# Nika Award for Best Popular Science Film (awarded 1988–1995)
# Nika Award for Best Producer (awarded 1994–1995)
# Nika Award for Best Cinematography in Documentary (awarded 1989)
# Special Nika Award "For Humanism" (awarded once at 2012)
{{div col end}}

== Films with multiple wins ==
;7 wins
* ''[[Taurus (2001 film)|Taurus]]'' (2002)
* ''[[The Horde (2012 film)|The Horde]]'' (2013)
* ''[[Hard to Be a God (2013 film)|Hard to Be a God]]'' (2015)
* ''[[The Master and Margarita (2024 film)|The Master and Margarita]]'' (2025)
;6 wins
* ''[[Repentance (1987 film)|Repentance]]'' (1988)
*''[[Promised Heaven]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Prisoner of the Mountains]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Khrustalyov, My Car!]]'' (2000)
* ''[[The Island (2006 film)|The Island]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Mongol (film)|Mongol]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Once Upon a Time There Lived a Simple Woman]]'' (2012)
;5 wins
* ''[[The Thief (1997 film)|The Thief]]'' (1998)
* ''[[Our Own (2004 film)|Our Own]]'' (2005)
* ''[[The Geographer Drank His Globe Away]]'' (2014)
* ''[[Arrhythmia (film)|Arrhythmia]]'' (2018)
* ''[[A Frenchman]]'' (2020)

==See also==
* [[Cinema of Russia]]
* [[Cinema of the Soviet Union]]
* [[List of Russian films]]
* [[History of Russian animation]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://kino-nika.com/}}

{{Nika Awards}}
{{National Cinema Awards}}
{{Nika Award Best Picture}}
{{Nika Award for Best Actor}}
{{Nika Award for Best Actress}}
{{Nika Award for Best Animated Film}}
{{Nika Award for Best Cinematography}}
{{Nika Award for Best Director}}
{{Nika Award for Best Film of the CIS and Baltic States}}
{{Nika Award for Best Supporting Performance}}
{{Nika Award for Discovery of the Year}}
{{Nika Lifetime Achievement Award}}

[[Category:Russian film awards]]
[[Category:Soviet awards]]
[[Category:Awards established in 1987]]
[[Category:1987 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Nika Awards| ]]