Dr. Joanna Lisek from the Taube Department of Jewish Studies was named the recipient of the prestigious Jan Karski and Pola Nireńska Award for 2020 for her academic and editorial achievements. The prestigious award was established by Jan Karski in 1992 at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York and is awarded annually to authors of published works documenting Polish-Jewish Relations and Jewish contributions to Polish Culture. Past award winners include Bella Szarcman-Czarnota, Ewa Geller, Eleonora Bergman, Tadeusz Epsztein, Jerzy Malinowski, Barbara Engelking, and Marcin Wodziński.
The winners of the third edition of the Józef A. Gierowski and Chony Shmeruk Award were announced on November 20, 2020. Dagmara Budzioch was awarded first prize for the best publication in the field of the history and culture of Jews in Poland in 2019 for her monograph Zdobione zwoje Estery ze zbiorów Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego na tle tradycji dekorowania megilot Ester w XVII i XVIII wieku, vol. 1: Zarys problematyki, vol. 2: Reprodukcje (Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw 2019). Budzioch completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Taube Department of Jewish Studies during the winter semester of 2019-20, and currently works with the Department as a volunteer.
Marcin Wodziński and Waldemar Spallek received second prize for Chasydyzm. Atlas Historyczny (Austeria Publishing House, Krakow 2019). The Józef A. Gierowski and Chone Shmeruk Award was established by various academic centers associated with Jewish Studies at the Jagiellonian University and the Marii Curie-Skłodowski University in Lublin with financial support from the Marcel and Maria Roth Foundation.
Warmest congratulations to all!