Awards
Inaugurated in 1995 to honor distinguished scholars and scientists for their scholarly achievements.
AWARDS
About Our Awards
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) is a prestigious Polish-American academic institution based in New York, founded in 1942. One of its main goals is to promote knowledge about Poland and Polish culture in the United States and to integrate the academic community.
The Institute regularly grants awards to honor outstanding scientists, researchers, and creators (mainly of Polish descent or those dealing with Polish affairs).
Exact and Applied Sciences
- Tadeusz Sendzimir Applied Sciences Award – honors engineers and scientists of Polish descent for outstanding achievements in fields such as computer science, materials science, or artificial intelligence.
- Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award – granted to researchers for their outstanding contribution to the development of natural sciences, medicine, or biology.
Humanities, Social Sciences, and History
- Oskar Halecki Polish History Award – an award for the most valuable book publications concerning the history of Poland.
- Bronisław Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences – granted to scholars for outstanding books and works in the fields of sociology, anthropology, or political science.
- Wacław Lednicki Humanities Award – honors important literary studies, humanistic works, and essays.
- Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award – honors the author of the best English language book on the history and/or culture of Polish Jews.
Other Recognitions
- Ludwik Krzyżanowski Polish Review Award – granted for the best article published in the quarterly “The Polish Review” (the official journal of PIASA).
- Lifetime and Merit Awards (e.g., Distinguished Achievement Award, Susanne Lotarski Distinguished Achievement Award) – presented for outstanding lifetime achievements in the field of Polish studies or for direct services to the Institute.
- Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award – a special distinction granted for activities supporting democracy, independent journalism, and the rule of law.
2026 PIASA Awards
Call for Nominations
Click an award below to review eligibility requirements and submit your nomination.
Call for Nominations
The Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award in Polish-Jewish Studies
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
The award, named for Rachel Feldhay Brenner (1946-2021), an eminent Polish-Israeli-American literary scholar, is given annually to the author of the best English-language book on the history and/or culture of Polish Jews. The winner of the Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award in Polish-Jewish Studies will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Criteria:
- The nominated book must be written in the English language.
- The book must have been published during the 2025 calendar year.
- Books containing original research or new, original syntheses are eligible for consideration; edited collections and self-published books are ineligible.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A cover letter marking the submission as “Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award Nomination.”
- A curriculum vitae of the nominee.
- Four copies of the published book, one for each member of the award committee.
Questions, including those related to contact information for sending nominations to award committee members, should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The winner of the Rachel Feldhay Brenner Award will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Jan T. Gross, Princeton University
Alina Molisak, University of Warsaw
Glenn Dynner, University of Virginia
Piotr Wrόbel, University of Toronto
Call for Nominations
The Anna M. Cienciała Award for Best Edited Multi-Author Scholarly Volume
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
The Anna M. Cienciała Award has been established to recognize the importance of collaborative scholarship and to honor Anna Cienciala, co-editor, with Natalia S. Lebedeva and Wojciech Materski, of a major collaborative work, Katyn: A Crime without Punishment (Yale University Press, 2008). Eligible books must be edited multi-author collections of scholarly articles or essays in the various fields of Polish studies, broadly understood. Editors and contributors need not be members of PIASA. The recipient(s) of the Anna M. Cienciała Award will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Criteria:
- The book must be written in the English language.
- The book must have appeared during the 2025 calendar year.
- Publications containing original research or new, original syntheses are eligible for consideration; self-published books are ineligible.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A cover letter marking the submission as a “Anna M. Cienciała Award Nomination.”
- A curriculum vitae of the editor or editors.
- Five copies of the nominated publication, one for each member of the committee.
Questions, including those related to contact information for sending nominations to award committee members, should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The Anna M. Cienciała Award recipient will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Stanley Bill, Cambridge University
Halina Goldberg, Indiana University
Markus Nesselrodt, Europa-Unversität-Viadrina
Konrad Matyjaszek, Polish Academy of Sciences
Neal Pease, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Nominations are being sought for the
2026 Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) is soliciting nominations for the Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award. The Award was established by PIASA in 1995 in an effort to recognize excellence, individual achievement and innovative contributions in the field of Natural Sciences. Exceptional Polish-American scientists, or scientists of Polish ancestry, who live and work in the United States are eligible for the Award.
Natural Sciences include life science and physical science, comprising biology, physics, chemistry, earth science, and astronomy, and related disciplines. Mathematics is also within the scope of the Casimir Funk Award.
Nominators need to provide a nomination letter stating the achievements on which the nomination is based and a curriculum vitae of the nominee that includes a bibliography of significant publications. Additional letters of support may be provided. Nomination is made by submitting the requested materials to the Chair of the Award Selection Committee, Dr. Wlodek Mandecki, at wlodek@mandecki.com. The submission deadline is November 1, 2026.
The Casimir Funk Natural Sciences Award winner will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Unsuccessful nominees will automatically be reconsidered for the Award for the subsequent four years.
Nominators will be given the opportunity to update the nomination for those being reconsidered.
Casimir Funk (1884-1967) made important contributions to the fields of hormone research, enzymology and chemical synthesis. However, he is best known for his pioneering research that led to the discovery of vitamins and for defining the role of vitamins in nutrition. Funk postulated that nutritional deficiency diseases can be prevented and cured by the addition of certain preventive substances which we call vitamins. His work has guided the developing science of nutrition and had an impact on biochemistry and medicine.
The previous winners of the Casimir Funk Award are as follows:
- 1995 Dr. Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Cornell University
- 1996 Dr. Alexander Wolszczan (Astronomy), Pennsylvania State University
- 1997 Dr. Hilary Koprowski (Virology, Immunology), Thomas Jefferson University
- 1998 Dr. Peter T. Wolczanski (Chemistry), Cornell University
- 2001 Dr. Andrew Wojcicki (Chemistry), Ohio State University
- 2003 Dr. Waclaw Szybalski (Molecular Biology), McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research
- 2005 Dr. Benoit Mandelbrodt (Mathematics), Yale University
- 2008 Dr. Frank Wilczek, Nobel Prize in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2013 Dr. Maria Siemionow (Medicine), Cleveland Clinic
- 2014 Dr. Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz (Cell Biology), Brander Cancer Research Institute
- 2016 Dr. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski (Chemistry), Carnegie Mellon University
- 2017 Dr. Andrew V. Schally, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, University of Miami
- 2018 Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski (Molecular Biology), University of California-Irvine
- 2019 Dr. Jack William Szostak, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Harvard Med School
- 2020 Dr. Henryk Iwaniec (Mathematics), Rutgers University
- 2021 Dr. Witold Nazarewicz (Physics), Michigan State University
- 2022 Dr. Thomas Wisniewski (Medicine), New York University
- 2023 Dr. Alexander Wlodawer (Structural Biology), National Institutes of Health
- 2024 Dr. Piotr Chomczynski, (Molecular Biology), Molecular Research Center, Cincinnati
- 2025 Dr. Krzysztof Gorski (Astronomy), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech
The Casimir Funk Award recipient will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Wlodek Mandecki, Rutgers University
Alexander Wlodawer, National Institutes of Health
Witold Nazarewicz, Michigan State University
Władek Minor, University of Virginia
Call for Nominations
The Oskar Halecki Polish and East-Central European History Award
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
Named for an eminent historian and founding member of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, the Oskar Halecki Award recognizes a scholar in the field of Polish and East-Central European history who has written a book of particular value and significance dealing with the Polish experience or including the Polish experience within a larger East-Central European context. The book should represent exemplary historical research and writing.
The recipient of the Oskar Halecki Award in Polish and East-Central European history will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Criteria:
- The book must be written in the English language.
- The book must have been published during the 2025 calendar year.
- Books containing original research or new, original syntheses are eligible for consideration; edited collections and self-publications are ineligible.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A cover letter marking the submission as “Oskar Halecki Award Nomination.”
- A curriculum vitae of the nominee.
- Four copies of the nominated book, one for each member of the award committee.
Questions, including those related to contact information for sending nominations to award committee members, should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The winner of the Oskar Halecki Award will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Jan Musekamp, German Historical Institute Warsaw
Padraic Kenney, University of Kentucky
Keely Stauter-Halsted, University of Illinois Chicago
Nathan Wood, University of Kansas
Call for Nominations
The Wacław Lednicki Award in the Humanities
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
Named after the first director of the Literature and Arts Section of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, the Wacław Lednicki Award recognizes the most outstanding book or creative work published, produced, or presented in any of the fields encompassed within the humanities as defined by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and related to the field of Polish studies, broadly defined. However, because another PIASA prize, the Oskar Halecki Award in Polish and East-Central European History, has been created to recognize outstanding works of history, books in this field should be nominated for the Halecki Award. The recipient(s) of the Wacław Lednicki Award in the Humanities will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during the PIASA’s 11th World Conference at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Criteria:
- If the nomination is based on a book, film, play, or literary translation, it must be written or rendered in the English language.
- The book or creative work must have been published or appeared in 2025.
- Books containing original research or new, original syntheses are eligible for consideration; co-authored books or creative works are also eligible; edited collections and self-publications are ineligible.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A brief cover letter marking the submission as “Wacław Lednicki Award Nomination” and including contact information for the nominee(s).
- Four copies of the nominated book, one for each member of the award committee.
- Literary translations should be accompanied by Polish originals.
- If the nomination is based on a creative work rather than a published scholarly work, please contact Robert Blobaum at the email address listed below.
Other questions, including those related to contact information for sending nominations to award committee members, should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The winner of the Wacław Lednicki Award will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Slawomir Dobrzanski, Kansas State University.
Halina Filipowicz, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood, SUNY-Stony Brook.
Daniel Pratt, University of Toronto.
The 2026 Susanne M. Lotarski Distinguished Achievement Award
PIASA’s Susanne M. Lotarski Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes an individual with a long-standing record of exemplary scholarly publications related to Poland and/or significant professional achievements, as well as a record of distinguished service to the profession and public advocacy for Polish studies or Polish culture. The recipient of the Susanne M. Lotarski Distinguished Achievement Award will be selected by PIASA’s Board of Directors and will receive a $1000 cash prize. The recipient will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include a cover letter and a CV of the nominated candidate. Nominations and supporting materials should be sent by email to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu.
Candidates from the previous year who were not selected are eligible to be considered again. However, their nominations need to be resubmitted to ensure they are included in the 2026 review process.
The deadline for receipt of nominations is November 1, 2026.
Call for Nominations
The Bronisław Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
Named for the eminent social scientist, who was a founding member and first president of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences in America, the Bronisław Malinowski Award recognizes a scholar in one of the fields of the social sciences who has written a book or seminal publication of particular value and significance dealing with an aspect of the Polish experience. In past instances, the Malinowski Award has also recognized a scholar’s outstanding body of published work. The book, outstanding publication, or body of work should represent exemplary scholarly research published in the fields encompassed by the social sciences, including anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology, according to standards recognized by those disciplines. The recipient of the Bronisław Malinowski Award in the Social Sciences will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during the PIASA’s annual 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027.
Criteria:
- The book, publication, or body of work must be written in the English language.
- The book or publication must have appeared in 2025. If the nomination is based on a body of work, it must include a significant publication within the last five calendar years.
- Publications containing original research or new, original syntheses are eligible for consideration; edited collections and self-published books are ineligible.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A cover letter marking the submission as a “Bronisław Malinowski Award Nomination.”
- A curriculum vitae of the nominee.
- Four copies of the nominated publication, one for each member of the committee.
Questions, including those related to contact information for sending nominations to award committee members, should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The Bronisław Malinowski Award recipient will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Geneviève Zubrzycki, University of Michigan
Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Washington and Lee University
Agnieszka Pasieka, Université de Montréal
Call for Nominations
The Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award to Promote Democracy and the Rule of Law
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA)
Deadline: November 1, 2026
The Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award furthers democracy and the rule of law by funding Polish and non-Polish citizens working in the areas of Polish studies and culture who seek to facilitate these broad goals. It is intended to support individual academics, journalists, writers, researchers, scientists, social activists, artists and organizations by recognizing and publicizing the recipient’s accomplishments and/or promoting their future endeavors as relevant to the award’s general purpose through scholarship and creative work. The recipient of the Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award will receive a $5000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2026.
Criteria:
- The nomination should be based
1) on a recent book, article, film, play, or literary work,
2) a detailed description of the future project, or
3) in the case of social activists and organizations, documented evidence of their recent activities. - The nominee’s accomplishments or future project must be related to Poland or, if not directly related to Poland, must be authored, created, or proposed by a person of Polish heritage, broadly understood.
Nominations, including self-nominations, should include:
- A cover letter marking the submission as “The Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Nomination.”
- A curriculum vitae of the nominee, or a link to the group or organization’s website.
- Description of the nominee’s accomplishments or future project for which an award is sought and its contribution to democracy and the rule of law.
All inquiries and completed nominations should be directed to Robert Blobaum at rblobau@wvu.edu
The Karol Pilarczyk Foundation Award recipient will be selected by the following group of individuals:
Michael Bernhard, University of Florida
Irena Grudzinska Gross, Polish Academy of Sciences
Leszek Jażdżewski, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, “Liberté!”
Anna Husarska, Journalist
Nominations are being sought for the
2026 Tadeusz Sendzimir Applied Sciences Award
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) is soliciting nominations for the Tadeusz Sendzimir Applied Sciences Award. The Award was established by PIASA in 1996 in an effort to recognize excellence, individual achievement and innovative contributions in the field of applied sciences. Exceptional Polish-American scientists or engineers who live and work in the United States are eligible for the Award.
The field of applied sciences includes branches of science and technology in which existing scientific knowledge is applied to develop practical applications, inventions or other technological advancements. Examples of disciplines within applied sciences include (broadly understood) computer sciences, engineering, environmental science, health science, and many others. For a more comprehensive list, see:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_applied_science#Branches_of_applied_science
Nominators need to provide a nomination letter and a curriculum vitae of the nominee that includes a bibliography of significant publications or a list of accomplishments. Additional letters of support may be provided. Nomination is made by submitting the requested materials to the Chair of the Award Selection Committee, Dr. Wladek Minor, at wladek@minorlab.org. The submission deadline is November 1, 2026.
The Tadeusz Sendzimir Applied Sciences Award winner will receive a $1000 prize and will also be recognized during PIASA’s 11 th World Congress at Humboldt University Berlin, June 11-12, 2027. Unsuccessful nominees will automatically be reconsidered for the Award for the subsequent four years. Nominators will be given the opportunity to update the nomination for those being reconsidered.
Tadeusz Sendzimir (1894-1989) received worldwide recognition for his outstanding and numerous contributions to metallurgy. By the early 1980s up to 90 percent of the world’s stainless steel passed through the Sendzimir process. Overall, Tadeusz Sendzimir, and the company he founded, has helped to alter the complete technological processes in steel rolling over the last several decades (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Sendzimir).
Previous recipients of the Sendzimir Award, starting with the most recent award, were:
- Dr. Teresa Bandosz (Chemistry), The City University of New York
- Dr. Wojciech Zaremba (Computer Science), Co-founder and Robotics Research Manager, OpenAI
- Dr. Tomasz Wierzbicki (Mechanical Engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Dr. Marcin Zukowski (Computer Science), Co-founder and Chief Engineer, Snowflake, Inc.
- Dr. Witold Krajewski (Civil and Environmental Engineering), University of Iowa
- Dr. Wladek Minor (Structural Biology), University of Virginia and Dr. Zbyszek Otwinowski (also Structural Biology), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
- Halina Zyczynski, M.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- Dr. Tomasz Imielinski (Computer Science), Rutgers University
- Anne Wojcicki, Founder and CEO of 23andMe
- Dr. Wladyslaw Koleczko, President of the Polish Association of Inventors and Industrial Innovators in Warsaw
- Dr. Thaddeus B. Massalski (Materials Science and Engineering), Carnegie Mellon University
- Dr. Stanislaw Gorczyca (Materials Science and Engineering), Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow
- Dr. Stanislaw Mrozowski (Physics), SUNY at Buffalo
The Tadeusz Sendzimir Award recipient will be selected by the following group of scholars:
Władek Minor, University of Virginia
Wlodek Mandecki, Rutgers University
Tomasz Imielinski, Rutgers University
Halina Zyczynski, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Distinguished
Awardees
We are deeply honored to present our distinguished past laureates. Over the years, these exceptional individuals have been recognized for their outstanding contributions and unwavering dedication. Below is a list of our previous award recipients, categorized by the specific honors they have received.
- 1995 – Dr. Andrzej S. Kaminski, Georgetown University
- 1996 – Dr. Robert Blobaum, University of West Virginia
- 1997 – Dr. Piotr S. Wandycz, Yale University
- 1998 – Dr. Timothy Snyder, Harvard University
- 2001 – Dr. Brian Allen Porter, University of Michigan
- 2003 – Dr. Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
- 2005 – Dr. Gershon David Hundert, McGill University
- 2007 – Dr. Marci Shore, Yale University
- 2014 – Dr. M.B.B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University
- 2014 – Dr. James Pula, Purdue University – North Central
- 2017 – Dr. Keely Stauter-Halsted, University of Illinois-Chicago
- 2018 – Dr. Paul Knoll, University of Southern California
- 2019 – Dr. Anna Műller, University of Michigan-Dearborn
- 2020 – Dr. Dominic A. Pacyga, Columbia College (Chicago)
- 2021 – Dr. Molly Pucci, Assistant Professor of Twentieth-Century European History, Trinity College Dublin and Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski, Professor of Polish-Lithuanian History, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London
- 2022 – Dr. Kenneth B Moss, the University of Chicago Honorable Mention: Dr. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Jagiellonian University
- 2023 – Dr. Małgorzata Fidelis, University of Illinois Honorable Mention: Dr. Kyrill Kunakhovich, University of Virginia.
- 2024 – Tomasz Grusiecki, Boise State University.
- 2025 – Dr. Jacob Flaws, Kean University, for Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2024).
- 1995 – Dr. Roald Hoffmann, Cornell University
- 1996 – Dr. Alexander Wolszczan, Pennsylvania State University
- 1997 – Dr. Hilary Koprowski, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
- 1998 – Dr. Peter T. Wolczanski, Cornell University
- 2001 – Dr. Andrew Wojcicki, Ohio State University
- 2003 – Dr. Waclaw Szybalski, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- 2005 – Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot, Yale University
- 2008 – Dr. Frank Wilczek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2013 – Dr. Maria Siemionow, Cleveland Clinic
- 2014 – Dr. Zbigniew Darzynkiewicz, New York Medical College
- 2016 – Prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Carnegie Mellon University
- 2017 – Dr. Andrew V. Schally, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Miami
- 2018 – Dr. Krzysztof Palczewski, University of California-Irviine
- 2019 – Dr. Jack W. Szostak, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
- 2020 – Dr. Henryk Iwaniec, Rutgers University
- 2021 – Witold Nazarewicz, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor and Chief Scientific Officer for the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University
- 2022 – Dr. Thomas Wisniewski, New York University School of Medicine, and Director of NYU’s Alzheimer Disease Center
- 2023 – Dr. Alex Wlodawer, National Institutes of Health
- 2024 – Dr. Piotr Chomczyński, Founder and Director of the Molecular Research Center, Cincinnati.
- 2025 – Dr. Krzysztof Górski, Secretary General, Nicholaus Copernicus Academy, Warsaw.
- 1995 – Dr. Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Loyola University, Chicago
- 1995 – Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic & International Studies
- 1997 – Dr. Adam Podgorecki, Carleton University & University of Warsaw
- 1998 – Eva Hoffman, author
- 2001 – Dr. Grzegorz Ekiert, Harvard University and Dr. Jan Kubik, Rutgers University.
- 2007 – Dr. Michael Bernhard, Pennsylvania State University
- 2017 – Dr. Marysia H. Galbraith, University of Alabama
- 2018 – Dr. Evgeny Finkel, Johns Hopkins University
- 2019 – Dr. Jeffrey S. Kopstein, University of California-Irvine and Dr. Jason Wittenberg, University of California-Berkeley
- 2020 – Dr. Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University
- 2021 – Geneviève Zubrzycki, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, the Center for European Studies, and the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies, University of Michigan
- 2022 – Dr. Agnieszka Graff, University of Warsaw, and Dr. Elżbieta Korolczuk, Södertörn University (Stockholm) and University of Warsaw
- 2023 – Dr. Tomasz Zarycki, University of Warsaw
- 2024 – Magdalena Waligórska, Humboldt University, Berlin Honorable Mention: Jack Palmer, University of Leeds.
- 2025 – Dr. Agnieszka Pasieka, University of Montreal, for Living Right: Far-Right Youth Activists in Contemporary Europe (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024).
- 1996 – Dr. Tomas A. Venclova, Yale University
- 1998 – Dr. Beth C. Holmgren, University of North Carolina
- 2001 – Dr. Jan C. Cavanaugh, Seattle, Washington
- 2003 – Dr. Roman Koropeckyj, UCLA
- 2005 – Dr. Karen Majewski, Polish American Historical Association (PAHA), Orchard Lake Schools, Orchard Lake, Michigan
- 2007 – Dr. Marek Bartelik, Cooper Union, New York
- 2014 – Adrian Prawica, director and filmmaker, Chicago, Illinois
- 2017 – Dr. Ursula Phillips, University College London
- 2018 – Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough, author and translator, Boston, Massachusetts
- 2019 – Dr. Marek Haltof, Northern Michigan University
- 2020 – Dr. Grażyna J. Kozaczka, Cazenovia College
- 2022 – Dr. Katarzyna Bartoszynska, Ithaca College Honorable Mention: Dr. Aleksandra Kremer, Harvard University
- 2024 – Agata Łuksza, Warsaw University Honorable Mention: Sławomir Dobrzański, Kansas State University
- 2025 – r. Anna Parkitna, Institute of Art, Polish Academy of Sciences, for Opera in Warsaw: A City of the European Enlightenment (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2024). Honorable Mentions: Dr. Elżbieta Ostrowska, University of Łódż, for ReFocus: The Films of Agnieszka Holland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2024) and Dr. Karen Underhill, University of Illinois, Chicago, for Bruno Schulz and Galician Jewish Modernity (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2024).
- 996 – Dr. Stanislaw Mrozowski, Professor Emeritus, SUNY at Buffalo
- 1997 – Dr. Stanislaw Gorczyca, Academy of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow
- 1998 – Dr. Thaddeus B. Massalski, Carnegie Mellon University
- 2001 – Dr. Wladyslaw Koleczko, President of the Polish Association of Inventors and Industrial Innovators in Warsaw
- 2017 – Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, Los Altos Hills, California
- 2018 – Dr. Tomasz Imielinski, Rutgers University
- 2019 – Halina Zyczynski, MD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
- 2020 – Dr. Władek Minor, University of Virginia and Dr. Zbyszek Otwinowski, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas
- 2021 – Witold F. Krajewski, Rose and Joseph Summers Chair in Water Research Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iowa
- 2022 – Dr. Marcin Żukowski, co-founder and vice president of engineering at Snowflake Computing
- 2023 – Dr. Tomasz Wierzbicki, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- 2024 – Dr. Wojciech Zaremba, Co-founder and Robotics Research Manager, OpenAI.
- 2025 – Dr. Teresa J. Bandosz, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, The City College of New York.
- 1995 – Dr. Andrzej Chmielarz, Institute of Military History, Warsaw
- 2015 – Dr. Robert Blobaum, West Virginia University
- 2017 – Dr. Rafal Wnuk, Catholic University of Lublin, and Dr. Piotr M. Majewski, Warsaw University
- 2018 – Dr. Adam Chmielewski, University of Wrocław
- 2019 – Dr. Christopher Garbowski, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin
- 2020 – Dr. Anna Krakus, University of Copenhagen
- 2021 – Dr. Anna Muller, University of Michigan-Dearborn
- 2022 – Dr. Dariusz Stola, Polish Academy of Sciences
- 2023 – Dr. Vitalii Borymskyi, Institute of History of Ukraine, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences
- 2024 – Dr. Dariusz Libionka, Polish Academy of Sciences
- 2025 – Dr. Colin P. Neufeldt, Concordia University of Edmonton and Dr. Wojciech Marchlewski, the Mazovian Museum in Płock, for “Escape to Freedom and Return to Bondage: A Case Study of the Flight of Mennonites from Deutsch Wymyschle and Gąbin, Poland, in Early 1945” published in The Polish Review Vol. 69, No.3, 2024. Honorable Mention: Dr. Andrzej Pieczewski, University of Łódź, and Dr. Aliaksandra Sidarava, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, for “The Polish Diaspora in Belarus: Functioning under the Lukashenko Regime,” published in The Polish Review, Vol. 69, no. 3 (2024)
- 2007 – Dr. Anna M. Cienciala, University of Kansas
- 2014 – Dr. Paul Knoll, University of Southern California
- 2018 – Dr. Jan Kubik, Rutgers University
- 2019 – Dr. Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
- 2020 – Dr. Anna Frajlich-Zając, Columbia University
- 2021 – Roman Koropeckyj, Professor of Slavic Languages, Department of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles
- 2022 – Dr. Irena Grudzińska Gross, Professor, Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Madeline G. Levine, Kenan Professor of Slavic Literatures Emerita, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- 2023 – Dr. Larry Wolff, New York University
- 2024 – Joanna Rostropowicz Clark, Princeton Research Forum, and Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Washington and Lee University.
- 2025 – Dr. Jan Tomasz Gross, The Norman B. Tomlinson Professor of War and Society (Emeritus), Department of History, Princeton University.
- 2021 – Dr. Eliyana Adler, Pennsylvania State University
- 2022 – Dr. Alina Molisak, Warsaw University Honorable Mention: Dr. Jan Rybak, Central European University
- 2023 – Dr. Yechiel Weizman, Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Geneviève Zubrzycki, University of Michigan
- 2024 – Janine Holc, Loyola University of Maryland
- 2025 – Dr. Waitman Wade Beorn, Northumbria University, for Between the Wires: The Janowska Camp and the Holocaust in Lviv (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2024).
- 2021 – Dr. Silvia Dapia, City University of New York
- 2022 – Dr. Katharina Friedla, Hoover Institution Stanford and Dr. Markus Nesselrodt, Europe-Universität Viadrina
- 2023 – Dr. Irena Grudzińska Gross and Dr. Konrad Matyjaszek, both from the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences Honorable Mention: Dr. Katarzyna Fazan, Jagiellonian University, Dr. Michal Kobialka, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Bryce Lease, Royal Holloway, University of London.
- 2024 – Halina Goldberg, Indiana University, and Nancy Sinkoff, Rutgers University Honorable Mention: Stanley Bill, Cambridge University, and Simon Lewis, University of Bremen.
- 2023 – Marta Gorczynska, human rights lawyer and co-founder of the NGO Grupa Granica (The Border Group), and head of the Migration Department at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw.
- 2023 – Agnieszka Holland, filmmaker, and Wojciech Sadurski, University of Sydney.
- 2024 –The Team of Journalists at OKO Press, Warsaw.
- 2025 – Ms.Anna Husarska, writer, journalist and activist, and Leszek Jażdżewski, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, “Liberté!” (co-recipients).