Deadline for applications: 1 June 2023

The Minister of Foreign Affairs has launched a contest for the best foreign-language publication promoting Poland’s history and the best Polish-language publication on the history of Polish diplomacy released in 2022.

Authors are invited to submit their books by 1 June 2023.

To be eligible for the contest, a publication must be a book (a scientific monograph, a popular science publication or an edition of sources) by no more than three authors.

Laureates will be awarded a cash prize of EUR 10,000 for ranking first, EUR 5,000 for ranking second and EUR 2,500 for ranking third in the category “Best foreign-language publication promoting Poland’s history”, whereas winners of the category “Best Polish-language publication on the history of Polish diplomacy” will receive PLN 20,000 as first prize, PLN 10,000 as second prize and PLN 5,000 as third prize.

The contest prizes are awarded by the Foreign Minister at the request of the Historical Diplomacy Council.

Last year’s winners for the best publication promoting the history of Poland were:

1st Prize – Hacer Topaktaş Üstüner (Turkey): Polonezköy: 180 Yıllık Mazi [english translation: 180 years of Polish History], Beykoz Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, [İstanbul] 2021

2nd Prize – Patrice M. Dabrowski (USA): The Carpathians. Discovering the Highlands of Poland and Ukraine, Northern Illinois University Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, Ithaca-London 2021.

3rd Prize – Jane Rogoyska (UK): Surviving Katyń. Stalin’s Polish Massacre and the Search for Truth, Oneworld Publications, London 2021.

How to submit a publication:

To participate in the contest, you must send your publication by 1 June 2023 (date of postmark deemed to be date of delivery).

Entries must include 3 copies of the publication, with published peer reviews, opinions and publisher’s reviews enclosed if available. It is also acceptable to send an e-book to the following address: ddpk.sekretariat@msz.gov.pl, in an e-mail titled “History Contest of the FA Minister”.

A written consent of the author or authors to participate in the contest, and their contact details, must be enclosed with the entry.

This year’s contest edition is intended only for publications released in 2022. All formal and material requirements are included in the rules of the contest which form part of the Order No. 24 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of 18 July 2017 on the History Contest of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with appendices (Journal of Laws of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of 2023, item 7).

Please send your publications to the following address: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy, al. J. Ch. Szucha 23, 00-580 Warszawa, in an envelope marked “History Contest of the FA Minister”; or submit it to the Correspondence Register of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, entry from Litewska Street, Monday to Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The MFA will not return the copies of publications entered for the contest.

Any questions about the contest should be sent to the following address only: ddpk.sekretariat@msz.gov.pl, in an e-mail titled “History Contest of the FA Minister”

For the original contest advert, see the link below:

History Contest of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for best publications promoting history of Poland and its diplomacy – Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of Poland – Gov.pl website (www.gov.pl)

Main image: Public Domain (Wikipedia)