National Ossolinski Institute » Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Prize

Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Prize

About the prize

The prize was established in 2004 by Jan Nowak-Jeziorański and the College of Eastern Europe, founded on his initiative in 2001, together with the city of Wrocław, the University of Wrocław and the National Ossolinski Institute. The Prize is awarded every year on 4 June to a person or institution whose activities realise "thinking about the state as a common good". The Prize ceremony takes place at the National Ossolinski Institute in Wrocław.

List of laureates

2004 (Poland) Tadeusz Mazowiecki - first Prime Minister of the Third Republic of Poland (1989-1991).
2005 (USA) George H. W. Bush - 41st President of the United States (1989-1993).
2006 (Belarus) Stanislav Shushkevich - first Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus.
2007 (France) Jean-Marie Lustiger - Cardinal, Metropolitan of Paris from 1981 to 2005.
2008 (Russia) Sergey Kovalev - human rights activist.
2009 (Czech Republic) Václav Havel - last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and first president of the Czech Republic (1993-2003).
2010 (Poland) Leszek Balcerowicz - founder of Polish economic reform, Minister of Finance 1989-1991 and 1997-2000, President of the National Bank of Poland 2001-2007.
2011 (Poland) Jerzy Koźmiński - President of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.
2012 (Lithuania) Valdas Adamkus - President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and 2004 to 2009.
2013 (Poland) Instytut Literacki 'Kultura' - established in 1946 in Paris by Jerzy Giedroyc.
2014 (USA) Zbigniew Brzezinski - US national security adviser to President Carter from 1977 to 1981.
2015 (Lithuania) Tomas Venclova - translator of Polish poetry into Lithuanian.
2016 (Ukraine) Boris Gudziak - bishop, founder of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv.
2017 (Poland) Cardinal Henryk Gulbinowicz - former Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Wrocław.
2018 (Israel) Shevah Weiss - former Israeli ambassador to Warsaw, promoter of cooperation between Poles and Jews.
2019 (Germany) Joachim Gauck - President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 2012 to 2017.
2020 (Poland) Hanna Suchocka - President of the Council of Ministers from 1992-1993, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General from 1997-2000, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Holy See and the Order of Malta from 2001-2013
2021 (Belarus) Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Marya Kalesnikava and Volha Kavalkova - fighting for democratic standards in Belarus.
2022 (Russia) Memorial International Association for History, Education, Charity and the Defence of Human Rights.
2023 (Ukraine) Andriy Deshchytsya, former Ukrainian ambassador to Poland.
2024 (Spain) Javier Solana, former Secretary-General of NATO.

Jan Nowak-Jeziorański Prize website