In May 1961 the Soviet Union was honoring on a large scale the memory of Ukrainian Kobzar Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko.

[1] Such atmosphere contributed to that on May 20, 1961 the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR issued a resolution "About establishing annual Shevchenko Republican Prize".

[2][1] At the same time there was adopted the Provision on prizes and examples of honoring badges with diplomas for laureates; also there was established a government committee headed by Oleksiy Korniychuk, which consisted along with the party's officials prominent figures of Ukrainian culture.

They were Pavlo Tychyna (recent speaker of Verkhovna Rada) and Oleksandr Honchar in literature, and Platon Mayboroda in music.

In 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the award was renewed as the State Prize of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko.

Once decided the names of the candidates are forwarded to the State Committee of Awards and Heraldry that petitions them to the President.

Evgeny Maloletka, Mstyslav Chernov, Vasylisa Stepanenko Taras Kompanichenko, Maksym Berezhnyuk, Severyn Danyleiko, Yaroslav Krysko, Serhiy Okhrimchuk During its history the prize was additionally awarded for featured films (until introduction of the Dovzhenko State Prize in 1994).