Nominations for PAHA Awards Due in June and July 2019

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR PAHA AWARDS AND PRIZES

Nominations are sought for the following awards that will be presented by PAHA at its 77th Annual Meeting, in January 2020. The following award nominations must be received by July 30, 2019, via email to Chair of the Awards Committee, PAHA's Second Vice President, Dr. Marta Cieslak, at mxcieslak@ualr.edu.

• Mieczyslaw Haiman Award is offered annually to an American scholar for sustained contribution to the study of Polish Americans.

• Oskar Halecki Prize recognizes an important book or monograph on the Polish experience in the United States. Eligibility is limited to works of historical and/or cultural interest, including those in the social sciences or humanities, published in the two years prior to the year of the award.

• Skalny Civic Achievement Award honors individuals or groups who advance PAHA's goals of promoting research and awareness of the Polish-American experience and/or have made significant contributions to Polish or Polish-American community and culture.

• Amicus Poloniae Award recognizes significant contributions enhancing knowledge of Polish and Polish-American heritage by individuals not belonging to the Polish-American community.

• James Pula Distinguished Service Award is given occasionally to a member of PAHA who has rendered valuable and sustained service to the organization. Since 2017, this award honors Prof. James Pula, PAHA's past president, current treasurer, and a long-time editor of the Polish American Studies.

• Creative Arts Prize recognizes the contributions in the field of creative arts by individuals or groups who have promoted an awareness of the Polish experience in the Americas.

• Established in 2018, the Joseph W. Zurawski Prize will be awarded for the best article or book published on the topic of Polish American screen images in films or television presented to audiences in the United States and released by American companies. To be eligible, works must have been published within the past three years. Nominations should be sent to the Awards Committee, Polish American Historical Association. Although there is no deadline, for the fullest annual consideration nominations should be made by June 1 each year. Awards will be presented at the awards ceremony during the annual PAHA conference in January.

JOSEPH W. ZURAWSKI PRIZE FOR STUDIES OF POLISH AMERICANS IN FILM OR TELEVISION IN THE U.S.

The Polish American Historical Association is pleased to announce creation of the Joseph W. Zurawski Prize. Consisting of a $500 award and a plaque, the  prize will be awarded for the best article or book published  on the topic of Polish American screen images in films or  television presented to audiences in the  United States  and released by American companies. To be eligible, works  must have been published within the past three years. Nominations should be sent to the Awards Committee, Polish  American Historical Association, Chair, Dr. Marta Cieslak, at mxcieslak@ualr.edu. Although there is no deadline, for the fullest  annual consideration nominations should be made by June 1  each year. Awards will be presented at the awards ceremony  during the annual PAHA conference in  January.

Joseph W. Zurawski has remained active in the Polish American community since writing his graduate thesis on Poland in 1960. He reviewed books on the Polish American community for several newspapers, was editor for Narod Polski, president of the Polish Museum of America, member of the Boards of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and the Polish Museum of America, and taught Polish American history and culture at Wright and Triton Colleges. He was an archivist of historical records for Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital (known as "The Polish Hospital”), wrote several books including Polish American History and Culture: An Annotated Bibliography and, most recently, The Polish Presence in American Screen Images. Among the awards he received are: Outstanding Young Man of America, Chamber of Commerce (1963); Distinguished Service Certificate, Copernicus Quincentennial Commission (1973); the American Catholic Who’s Who (1976), Kosciuszko Medal, Kosciuszko Foundation (1977); Civic Achievement Award, Polish American Historical  Association (2002); “Wybitny Polak” (Outstanding Pole, culture category), Foundation of Polish Promotion, Chicago presentation a Chicago’s Polish Consulate, Warsaw culmination at Grand Theater and Polish National Opera (2017). He has been a proud member of the Polish American Historical Association for over 50 years.

GRADUATE STUDENT/YOUNG SCHOLAR TRAVEL GRANT, DUE JULY 30, 2019

PAHA encourages graduate students and emerging scholars (up to three years after graduation) to apply for a Travel Grant. Two such grants of $500.00 each will be awarded to offset travel costs to attend the 2020 PAHA Annual Meeting in New York. The grants will be awarded by the Program Committee for two best conference proposals dealing with the Polish American experience in any historical epoch, scholarly field, or aspect submitted by junior scholars.

To apply please submit the following documents to Chair of Awards Committee, PAHA's Second Vice President, Dr. Marta Cieslak, via email to mxcieslak@ualr.edu:

• your paper proposal (as required by the general CFP)
• a brief letter of application (no template will be provided)
• a complete CV
• one letter of recommendation from a senior scholar (e.g. thesis advisor).

In order to receive the travel grant it is mandatory to present the paper at the conference in person. Awardees will receive remuneration during the Awards Ceremony at the Annual Meeting. Failure to present the paper in person at the annual meeting shall result in the immediate cancellation of the grant.

The deadline for application, to be submitted with the paper proposal, is JULY 30, 2019.

Please send your application packets by email to chair of the Awards Committee, Dr. Marta Cieslak, at mxcieslak@ualr.edu, with the subject line "Graduate Student Travel Grant."

Anna Mazurkiewicz Receives OAH'S 2019 Willi Paul Adams Award for her Book

Barbara Kalabińska, author of index, and Prof. Mazurkiewicz with her award

During its annual meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) presented Prof. Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdańsk, with their prestigious 2019 Willi Paul Adams Award, which is given every two years for the best book on American history published in a language other than English.

The book, Uchodźcy polityczni z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej w amerykańskiej polityce zimnowojennej, 1948–1954 [Political Exiles from East Central Europe in American Cold War Politics, 1948–1954] was published by the Institute of National Remembrance and University of Gdańsk. This is an impressively detailed study of the origins and dynamics of U.S. involvement on behalf of East Central European exiles in the early years of the Cold War. Based on transatlantic archival work and covering exile groups such as Albanians, Romanians, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks, the book’s signal contribution is to join the literature of U.S. Cold War policy and propaganda formation with the literature on exile politics in these important but understudied regions of the Soviet bloc.

Prof. Earl Lewis, OAH President presents the award to Prof. Anna Mazurkiewicz

Mazurkiewicz presents a nuanced analysis of the two-way relationship between East Central European exiles and U.S. Cold War policy makers, especially through formation of the Free Europe Committee, an anticommunist Central Intelligence Agency–supported organization that established Radio Free Europe and served American propaganda interests. Documents from exiles and interviews with them demonstrate the compromises involved in becoming tethered to the U.S. propaganda mission and give voice to their complex and often-equivocal response to the partnership. The author concludes that the East Central Europeans’ integration in the Free Europe Committee became a model for U.S. relations with anticommunist exile groups from other regions of the world. Because exile and refugee politics are often tied to U.S. policy makers’ interest in regime change elsewhere, Mazurkiewicz’s history will remain a meaningful reference point for the present.

The award was presented on April 5 by OAH’s 2018–19 President Earl Lewis and 2019–20 President Joanne Meyerowitz. For more information, visit oah.org or call 812.855.7311.