Karol Miarka Award for Professor Masnyk

The award has been granted since 1983 to distinguished people of the world of culture who enrich the knowledge about Silesia. Since 2006 the awards have been granted by the marshals of Silesian and Opole Voivodeships. This year Andrzej Buła, Marshal of the Opole Voivodeship, honoured Rector, Professor Marek Masnyk.

Prof. Marek Masnyk’s publications focus on, inter alia, the issues of Silesia in the Polish political thought, as well as the social and political history of Silesia in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the most important monographs written by Prof. Masnyk is Dzielnica I Związku Polaków w Niemczech (1923-1939) [District of the 1st Union of Poles in Germany (1923-1939)]. The book documents the history of Poles living and working under the Rodło emblem.

The laudation was delivered by Prof. Stanisław S. Niceja and the award ceremony was held in the Silesian Library in Katowice.

The award was named after Karol Miarka, a prominent Upper Silesian, social, national and educational activist, who was also a publicist, writer, bookseller, publisher, and a tribune of the Polish people in Silesia, and was established in 1983. It was funded by voivodes of Katowice, Bielsko-Biała, Częstochowa and Opole voivodeships, and since 2006 the awards have been jointly granted by Marshals of the Silesian and Opole Voivodeships.

Andrzej Buła, Marshal of the Opole Voivodeship, awarded also Prof. Dr. hab. Zbigniew Zielonka. Professor Zbigniew Zielonka is a scientist, novelist and journalist. He considers Geografia życia literackiego polskiego kręgu kulturowego na Śląsku [The Geography of the Literary Life of Polish Culture in Silesia], for which he received his habilitation, as his greatest academic achivement. 

The award may be granted only once for the whole oeuvre or a single individual achievement. In the years 1983-2015 laureates from Opole were: list of awardees.

Photo: Jarosław Mokrzycki and Tadeusz Parcej