The professor emeritus has received the 2026 Nordic Sámi language prize for his enduring contribution to terminology, education, language administration and the academic use of North Sámi.
A lifetime devoted to North Sámi
Professor emeritus Nils Øivind Helander has received the 2026 Gollegiella prize, the foremost pan-Nordic award recognising work to promote, develop and preserve the Sámi languages. Helander, also known by his North Sámi name Máre Jon Nilsa, was honoured for his long and multifaceted career devoted to strengthening North Sámi as a language of education, public administration, research and intellectual life. The €15,000 award was presented in Helsinki on 11 November during a joint meeting of the ministers responsible for Sámi affairs and the presidents of the Sámi parliaments of Finland, Norway and Sweden.
From Tana to the institutions of Sápmi
Born in 1949 and based in Tana, northern Norway, Helander has worked at the University of Tromsø, the Sámi University of Applied Sciences and the Sámi Parliament in Norway. Across these institutions, he has helped ensure that North Sámi can be used not only at home or in cultural expression, but also in classrooms, universities and public administration. According to the prize jury, his work as a teacher, researcher and language specialist has made a major contribution to North Sámi language planning and terminology, while influencing the education and linguistic awareness of several generations of Sámi-speaking professionals.
Building the vocabulary of modern life
Helander’s research has covered North Sámi grammar and language use, as well as written language, bilingualism and Sámi language policy. The award particularly recognises his exceptional contribution to expanding the use of Sámi in academic contexts. This work can be less visible than literature, music or political activism, but terminology forms part of the essential infrastructure that allows a language to remain fully alive: it needs words precise enough for teaching, law, administration, science and new technologies, otherwise speakers may be forced to change languages whenever a conversation enters a specialised field. Helander’s career has helped make that switch less necessary.
Preservation means allowing a language to grow
Protecting an Indigenous language does not mean fixing it in the past. It means creating the conditions in which it can continue to change, describe contemporary realities and carry knowledge into the future. Language administration, teacher training and academic terminology are therefore not peripheral activities: they determine whether Sámi can function confidently across the institutions that shape modern life. Norwegian Local Government and Regional Development Minister Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran congratulated Helander and emphasised the importance of his life’s work for the development and standing of North Sámi.
A prize spanning national borders
The context of the presentation was especially significant. Gollegiella is a cross-border prize, reflecting the reality that Sápmi and its languages extend across national frontiers. Its presentation during a meeting involving three national governments and three Sámi parliaments underlined the continuing need for cooperation on language rights, education and cultural continuity. Although Helander’s work has been centred largely in Norway, its importance reaches well beyond one state: the development of shared terminology, scholarship and educational resources strengthens the language throughout the North Sámi-speaking area.
The “golden language” prize
The name Gollegiella can be translated as “golden language”. Established by the ministers responsible for Sámi affairs in Finland, Norway and Sweden together with the presidents of the three Sámi parliaments, the award has been presented every two years since 2004. It may be given to individuals, groups or organisations that have made an important contribution to promoting, developing or preserving Sámi languages in spoken, written or other forms. Helander becomes part of a distinguished succession of linguists, teachers, writers, broadcasters, community organisations and developers of Sámi-language technology.
An inheritance carried forward
Previous Gollegiella recipients include South Sámi language advocate Sig-Britt Persson, linguists Pekka Sammallahti and Ole Henrik Magga, writer and educator Ella Holm Bull, and the Divvun and Giellatekno language-technology teams. Together, their work demonstrates that the future of the Sámi languages depends upon many interconnected forms of commitment: speaking them to children, teaching them in schools, documenting their structures, creating new vocabulary and ensuring that they can be used in public and professional life. Helander’s award celebrates not only an individual scholar and educator, but also the quieter architecture of language survival—the patient work of giving speakers the words, knowledge and confidence required to use their language everywhere.
Suggested Online Sources
Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development | Yle Sápmi | SVT Sápmi | Sámi Parliament in Norway
