On June 14, 2022, at the Polish Theater in Warsaw, I received the ZAiKS 2022 Special Award.

It is worth writing about these awards, because they are worth it. I hope they will become more and more known and respected. They deserve it. I also hope that they will co-create it and also receive younger and younger.

There are many categories among them (ZAiKS Awards, ZAiKS 100th Anniversary Awards, ZAiKS Special Awards, Honorary Memberships) and as many reasons why someone receives them (own, outstanding work, long-term contribution to Polish culture and/or in supporting creators) and long to translate.

At the very bottom, I list this year's winners.

The most important thing is that these are the only such awards exclusively for Polish authors - creators and for those who support them. Without them, Poland would be completely different. In 2022, awards were given to nearly 100 artists, as the ceremony had not been organized for several years.

I was lucky and honored to stand on one stage next to such giants this year (I will only mention Marian Turski, Magda Umer, Mirosław Bałka, Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, Tadeusz Rolke, Ernest Bryll, Marek Dutkiewicz and Krystyna Janda, but full list at the bottom).

Not much is said about it, because it is embarrassing in Poland, but the ZAiKS Awards also have their "felt" (and not small) financial side, most of the winners received this support during the pandemic, when they needed it most.

In my case, it was a total surprise, but I did
very nice, because the aspect of supporting Polish artists pro bono for over 7 years, changes in legislation on the Polish and international arena was appreciated, including through participation in dozens of trips, conferences or debates (many of which I led) and through a number of articles written by me , some of which (published in OKO.press, TVN24.pl, Rzeczpospolita or NaTemat.pl) resonated as such. And after all, I am formally an ordinary member of ZAiKS associated in section M (journalism). More than once and not twice together with still few colleagues (led by TOMEK LIPIŃSKI, Zbyszek Hołdys or Marysia Sadowska and Urszula Dudziak or Jan A.P. Kaczmarek) we stood on the barricades and were attacked by brutal bots hired by lobbyists in various social media.

I would like to thank the presidents, the board and the board of ZAiKS, as well as those people with whom I work the most and most often (you know who I am writing about). Three days ago, the award was presented to me by Michał Komar.

A special guest at the gala was Liudmyla Tsymbal representing NGO UACRR, a Ukrainian organization for the collective management of copyright (equivalent to ZAiKS). On behalf of Ukrainian creators, she thanked for the support of the Polish and international creative community: the Creators For Ukraine fund established by the organization associating associations of creators CISAC and operated by ZAiKS. The fund helps Ukrainian artists and institutions protecting Ukrainian culture. Polish artists expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian artistic community.

LIST OF AWARDED IN 2022:

ZAiKS awards for achievements in individual creative categories. In recent years they have been awarded to the following artists:

ZAiKS Award for achievements in the field of visual arts: Stanisław Baj, Inez Baturo, Agnieszka Kawa, Andrzej Świetlik;

ZAiKS Award for translations of Polish literature into foreign languages: Osman Fırat Baş, Irina Kisielowa, Daniela Lehárová, Karol Lesman, Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka, Agnieszka Zgieb;

ZAiKS Award for translations of foreign literature into Polish: Halina Kralowa, Henryk Lipszyc, Anna Marciniakówna, Bogusława Sochańska, Ewa T. Szyler, Teresa Worowska;

Award of ZAiKS im. Krzysztof T. Toeplitz in the field of film writing: Andrzej Bukowiecki, Maria Malatyńska, Anita Piotrowska, Tadeusz Szczepański;

ZAiKS Award for the popularization of Polish popular music: Dominika Barabas, Bogdan Fabiański, Polish Song Festival in Luboń, Kayax, Elżbieta Lewicka, Jerzy Mamcarz, Aleksander Pałac;

Award of ZAiKS im. Karol Małcużyński for Varsavian: Błażej Brzostek, Jakub Jastrzębski, Tomasz Szarota;

ZAiKS Award for the popularization of Polish contemporary music: Klaudiusz Baran, Jan Łukaszewski, Dorota Serwa;

ZAiKS Award for works for children: Maja Krämer, Karolina Laube-Krämer, Janusz Łęski, Sławomir Wierzcholski;

ZAiKS Award for Lifetime Achievement for Children: Liliana Bardijewska, Andrzej Maleszka, Teresa Wilbik-Stanny;

ZAiKS Award for achievements in the field of choreography: Zofia Paradowicz.

ZAiKS Special Awards are awarded for many years of contribution to the development of Polish culture.

This year, ZAiKS Special Awards were given to: Elżbieta Banecka, Danuta Błażejczyk, Stan Borys, Wojciech Byrski, Sławomir Czarnecki, Edward Dębicki, Zenon Durka, Marek Hojda, Mieczysław Jurecki, Hanna Karpińska, Jerzy Kornowicz, Marek Kościkiewicz, Zygmunt Kukla, Wanda Kwietniewska, Ferid Lakhdar, Bogdan Loebl, Marcin Nowakowski, Andrzej Rybiński, Piotr Rubik, Kuba Sienkiewicz, Katarzyna Stanny, Stanisław Trzciński, Katarzyna Wojsz and Hirek Wrona.

Winners of the 100th Anniversary Awards in recent years include: Jacek Bromski, Ernest Bryll, Maciej Buszewicz, Andrzej Dąbrowski, Ewa Demarczyk, Marek Dutkiewicz, Bogdan Dziworski, Barbara Falender, Jerzy Hausner, Andrzej Jagodziński, Andrzej S. Jagodziński, Henryk Konwiński, Urszula Kozioł , Witold Krassowski, Lech Majewski, Lech J. Majewski, Krystyna Miłobędzka, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Włodzimierz Nahorny, Chris Niedenthal, Daniel Passent, Włodek Pawlik, Wojciech Prażmowski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Sławomir Rogowski, Marek Safjan, Tomek Sikora, Józef Skrzek, Stanisław Sojka , Jerzy Stuhr, Krzysztof Ścierański, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Stanisław Tym, Magda Umer, Stanisław Wieczorek and Sławomir Wierzcholski;

Honorary membership was granted to: Mirosław Bałka, Ewa Braun, Jacek Cygan, Krzysztof Dzikowski, Krzysztof Gierałtowski, Henryk Kuźniak, Leszek Długosz, Zbigniew Hołdys, Krystyna Janda, Janusz Kapusta, Bogdan Olewicz, Wiesław Ochman, Paweł Pawlikowski, Jerzy Owsiak, Tadeusz Rolke, Barbara Seidler-Hollender, Allan Starski, Marian Turski and Józef Wilkoń.

The authors of the presented photos are: Karpati&Zarewicz (most) and AKPA Polska Press Sp. z o. o. - news and photo agency.

ZAiKS Special Awards are awarded for many years of contribution to the development of Polish culture.

This year, ZAiKS Special Awards were given to: Elżbieta Banecka, Danuta Błażejczyk, Stan Borys, Wojciech Byrski, Sławomir Czarnecki, Edward Dębicki, Zenon Durka, Marek Hojda, Mieczysław Jurecki, Hanna Karpińska, Jerzy Kornowicz, Marek Kościkiewicz, Zygmunt Kukla, Wanda Kwietniewska, Ferid Lakhdar, Bogdan Loebl, Marcin Nowakowski, Andrzej Rybiński, Piotr Rubik, Kuba Sienkiewicz, Katarzyna Stanny, Stanisław Trzciński, Katarzyna Wojsz and Hirek Wrona.

Winners of the 100th Anniversary Awards in recent years include: Jacek Bromski, Ernest Bryll, Maciej Buszewicz, Andrzej Dąbrowski, Ewa Demarczyk, Marek Dutkiewicz, Bogdan Dziworski, Barbara Falender, Jerzy Hausner, Andrzej Jagodziński, Andrzej S. Jagodziński, Henryk Konwiński, Urszula Kozioł , Witold Krassowski, Lech Majewski, Lech J. Majewski, Krystyna Miłobędzka, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Włodzimierz Nahorny, Chris Niedenthal, Daniel Passent, Włodek Pawlik, Wojciech Prażmowski, Wojciech Pszoniak, Sławomir Rogowski, Marek Safjan, Tomek Sikora, Józef Skrzek, Stanisław Sojka , Jerzy Stuhr, Krzysztof Ścierański, Tomasz Tomaszewski, Stanisław Tym, Magda Umer, Stanisław Wieczorek and Sławomir Wierzcholski;

Honorary membership was granted to: Mirosław Bałka, Ewa Braun, Jacek Cygan, Krzysztof Dzikowski, Krzysztof Gierałtowski, Henryk Kuźniak, Leszek Długosz, Zbigniew Hołdys, Krystyna Janda, Janusz Kapusta, Bogdan Olewicz, Wiesław Ochman, Paweł Pawlikowski, Jerzy Owsiak, Tadeusz Rolke, Barbara Seidler-Hollender, Allan Starski, Marian Turski and Józef Wilkoń.

The authors of the presented photos are: Karpati&Zarewicz (most) and AKPA Polska Press Sp. z o. o. - news and photo agency.