Establishment of the Congress Prize for the best publication in Polish

In 2016, during the 6th International Congress of Belarusian Studies, the Honorary Congress Prize for the best publication on Belarusian topics in Polish will be awarded for the first time.

This Prize continues the tradition, launched in 2015, of recognizing the best Belarusian studies publications produced outside the country.

Last year, English-language monographs were considered, and the Honorary Prize was awarded to Margarita Balmaceda for her book “Living the High Life in Minsk.

Russian Energy Rents, Domestic Populism and Belarus’ Impending Crisis” (CEU Press, 2014).

The purpose of this Prize is both to recognize the best works and to draw the attention of Belarusian researchers to them.

This Prize is honorary in nature and does not provide for a monetary award.

One of the strongest centers of Belarusian studies is the Polish academic community, which also calls for the establishment of a separate Prize for scholarly publications in Polish.

According to Andrei Kazakevich, chair of the Organizing Committee of the International Congress of Belarusian Studies, “Poland has a developed system of Belarusian studies.

Possibly the best in any country other than Belarus itself.

Therefore, it is entirely justified that after the Congress Prize for the best English-language publication was awarded last year, in 2016 experts will select the best book published in Polish.”

Ales Pashkevich, editor of the journal “Arche,” also agrees on the importance of Polish-language works for the study of Belarus: “Poles and Belarusians are connected by centuries of shared history, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that in Poland, which is known for its highly developed historiography, scholarly studies directly related to Belarus and Belarusians regularly appear.

One can say with confidence, without particular risk of error, that today Polish occupies first place among all foreign languages in which monographs and articles on Belarusian topics are published.

Moreover, this primacy applies not only to the overall number of publications, but also to the degree of their influence on the development of historical scholarship in Belarus itself.

For that reason, in my view, special attention precisely to Polish-language publications, embodied in the establishment of a separate Prize for them, is fully justified.

Both quantitatively and qualitatively, this part of foreign Belarusian studies deserves to be placed in a separate category.”

In 2016, the competition accepts monographs (books) in Polish published in 2011–2015 whose authors are not of Belarusian origin (citizenship) and are not connected with Belarus by their academic career.

Nominations may be sent to [email protected] by 15 April 2016.

The expert council consists of outstanding Belarusian researchers who enjoy authority both in Belarus and in Poland.

List of experts (http://icbs.palityka.org/premija-kanhresa/spis-ekspertau-premii-kangresa/)