Solidarity Prize

The Solidarity Prize (Polish: Nagroda Solidarności) – Polish award for promotion and protection of democracy and civil liberties. The prize has been established by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.^[1][2]

The Solidarity Prize
Nagroda Solidarności
Awarded for	Promotion and protection of democracy and civil liberties
Country	Poland
First awarded	2014
Last awarded	2015
Website	website

Selection process

The selection of the laureate is a two-stage process. Fifteen nominators, are presenting their candidates. Among nominators are Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Polish minister of foreign affairs: current and former and globally recognized authorities in the field of democracy and human rights.^[3] Every year 1/3 of nominators is changed. The final decision on awarding the prize is made by the chapter of award,^[4] which in 2014 has been chaired by Poland's former president Lech Wałęsa.

Nominating committee

• 2014: Catherine Ashton, Władysław Bartoszewski, Carl Bildt, Emma Bonino, Carl Gershman, Paul Graham, Tawakkol Karman, Frank La Rue, Myroslav Marynovych, Roza Otunbayeva, Mary Robinson, Arseny Roginsky, Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Yoani Sánchez, Aung San Suu Kyi.^[5]

Prize

Each Laureate receives a statuette. The prize has also financial dimension: 1 mln EUR in total:

• 250,000 EUR is the cash is for the laureate;
• 50,000 EUR is allocated to finance the laureate's participation in the award ceremony and study visit to Poland for the laureate or a group of persons selected by him/her;
• 700 000 EUR is to be allocated to finance development cooperation projects, indicated by the laureate.

 

Mustafa Dzhemilev

Laureates

• 2014 – Mustafa Dzhemilev^[6] – leader of the Crimean Tatars who was also nominated several times to the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 2015 – Zhanna Nemtsova, journalist, social activist, and the oldest daughter of Boris Nemtsov, Russian oppositionist assassinated in February 2015^[7]

References

1. "4 czerwca po raz pierwszy przyznana zostanie Nagroda Solidarności, depesza PAP z 16 stycznia 2014 r." msz.gov.pl (in Polish). Polish MFA. 2014.
2. Minister of Foreign Affairs (of the Republic of Poland) (22 January 2014). (PDF) (in Polish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2014.
3. "Wybitne osobistości wskażą kandydatów do Nagrody Solidarności" (in Polish).
4. "W środę poznamy laureata Nagrody Solidarności".
5. "Osoby nominujące kandydatów do Nagrody Solidarności 2014" (in Polish).
6. "Mustafa Dżemilew pierwszym laureatem Nagrody Solidarności" (in Polish).
7. "Zhanna Nemtsova awarded Lech Walesa Solidarity Prize for 2015". msz.gov.pl. Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 17 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.