FINNO-UGRIC CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2027: SELECTION PROCEDURE
In accordance with Statutes of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture programme, URALIC Centre NGO and Sukukansojen Ystävät ry – as co-organizers of Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture programme – hereby specify the procedure and timeline for selecting the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027.
- Eligible candidates
All countries and regions with significant Finno-Ugric populations (both traditional territories of Finno-Ugric peoples and locations with significant Finno-Ugric diasporas) are eligible to apply for the title of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027.
Selection Jury
The selection of the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027 will be made by a five-member international and independent jury, which will be selected by May 15, 2026.
Timeline
Selection of Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027 will take place according to the following timeline:
- March 1, 2026: Official announcement of the competition. Application materials are published and downloadable on Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture website (https://capitals.uralic.org).
- March 1 – May 15, 2026. Communication and dissemination. Preparation of applications.
- May 15, 2026: Final deadline for submission of applications to the Secretariat of Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture. Applications must be sent only electronically (in PDF format) to capitals@uralic.org.
- May 16 – May 31, 2026: Evaluation of applications by the Selection Jury
- June 1, 2026: Announcement of finalists (max 3) of the competition
- June 12, 2026: Presentations of up to 3 finalists to be held as part of an online meeting (ZOOM).
- June 20, 2026: Public announcement of the winner of the title „Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027” during the mid-summer Juhannus festivities in Hancock (Michigan, USA).
- Rules of Selection
Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2027 will be selected by the Jury based on two rounds of selection. In both rounds, no formal selection criteria are applied; jury members are encouraged to use their own personal judgement about the quality of applications. However, members of the Jury are asked to take into account the general selection criteria listed under Article 4.3. of the Statutes. The two rounds will be conducted as follows:
- In Round 1, jury members independently rank all applications from 1 to N (N=number of eligible applications) where „1“ refers to the most competitive and „N“ to the least competitive application.Based on that, Programme Bureau calculates arithmetic averages of the rankings of all applications. Three applications with the highest average ranks are selected for Round 2. However, Selection Jury can decide to extend the number of applications selected to Round 2 to more than three.
- In Round 2, selected applicants (up to three) will be invited to prepare presentationsto be delivered in person at a special online event on June 12, 2026. Thereafter, jury will privately convene and select the winner. Results of the competition will be publicly announced on June 20, 2026.
- Secretariat
The Secretariat of the Finno-Ugric Capitals of Culture is headed by URALIC Centre (Estonia) and Sukukansojen Ystävät ry (Finland).
Contact information: Tel. +372 513 2992 capitals@uralic.org
