• July 7, 2014
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Prof. Dr. Hab. Algis Kalėda a laureate of the Polonicum Award 2014

The chairman of the Polish Centre in Vilnius University Prof. Dr. Hab.Algis Kalėdabecame a laureate of the Polonicum Award 2014, given by chapter house of the Award – The Centre of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners Polonicum . The award ‘Polonicum’ has been handed out since 2006 for great achievements in promoting Polish culture and language abroad.

The Polonicum Award which was created upon the initiative of Prof. Ryszard Kulesza, Director of the Institute of Polish Language and Culture for Foreigners ‘Polonicum’ of the Warsaw University goes to foreign scholars for outstanding achievements in propagating the Polish language and the knowledge of Polish culture and history abroad.

The aim of the Polonicum Award is to promote the culture of Poland abroad, in the fields of language, literature, culture, history and art. The choice of the laureate of the Polonicum Award is the prerogative of the special commission that consists of representatives of authorities of the University of Warsaw, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland (pl. Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego RP), The Ministry of Science and Higher Education (pl. Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego RP), Senate of Poland (pl. Senat RP), Association ‘Polish Community’ (pl. Stowarzyszenie ‘Wspólnota Polska’), National Library of Poland (pl. Biblioteka Narodowa). To the chapter house also belong the Dean of the Institute of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw and the Director of the ‘Polonicum’ Institute UW.

The Award is bestowed once a year.  According to the regulations, the laureate receives a bronze statuette and a commemorative diploma. The Award is handed in November during the celebrations of the Warsaw University Day.

Lately, among the laureates of the Polonicum Award were: the founder of the first Department of Polish Studies in Korea Prof.  Cheong Byung Kwon of Hankuk University, of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Prof. Oscar Swan from the University of Pittsburgh, Prof. Yi Lijun from the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Prof. Dr. Hab. Zuzanna Topolińska from the Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje.

In 2007 the chapter house of the Polonicum Award distinguished the Polish Centre of Vilnius University.

Prof. Dr. Hab.Algis Kalėda is a long-term chairman of the Polish Centre of Vilnius University, a scientific worker of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (pl. Instytut Literatury Litewskiej). He was studying Lithuanian philology at the Vilnius University and Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He is a researcher of Lithuanian and Polis literature, literary critic and translator. Algis Kalėda translated into Lithuanian language works of Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Sławomir Mrożek, Stanisław Lem, Witold Gombrowicz, Bruno Schulz.

Based on: polonicum.uw.edu.pl, filpol.flf.vu.lt

Translated by Diana Donichenko within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.

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