Artificial Intelligence, Poland in the Borderlands, and Travel to the Edge of Asia

Benedict the Pole Awards Ceremony in Tum

The 10th anniversary awards ceremony took place on September 27, 2024, at the Tum cathedral. The prestigious award, given for outstanding exploration and research achievements, was presented to Prof. Tomasz Rutkowski, Dr. Tadeusz Gawin, and Mr. and Mrs. Elżbieta and Krzysztof Renik.

The Benedict the Pole Awards honor outstanding achievements in exploration and research on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. The award is given to scientists and explorers not only from Poland, but from all over the world. The committee presents two awards: one for a Polish researcher and one for a foreign researcher. A special award can also be presented.

On June 24, 2023, at 4:00 pm, a ceremony to present the 9th edition of Benedict the Pole Awards was held at the Kazimierzowski Palace in Warsaw, in the Senate Room of Warsaw University.

The symposium “Laureates of the Benedict Pole Award 2023” was aimed at popularizing Polish exploration achievements and recalling, through the person of the Patron, Franciscan Benedict Pole, the historical significance that our country has played in the field of intercultural contacts. The event was scientific in nature, a celebration of the achievements of Polish scientists and scientists from abroad who collaborate with Polish researchers.

In this year's (2023) 9th edition of the Benedict Pole Award, the Grand Prize winners were:

Main Prize for a Pole by Marta Kolanowska, PhD, submitted by the Polish Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Main Prize for a Foreigner Prof. Rimvydas Petrauskas submitted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Lithuania.

Special Mention Dr. Odpurev Gankhuyag submitted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Mongolia.

Saturday, June 25, 2022 3:45 pm.

On June 25, 2022, at 4:00 pm, the ceremony of awarding the VIII edition of the Benedict Pole Awards took place at the Kazimierzowski Palace in Warsaw, in the Senate Room of the University of Warsaw.

The Main Prize (in the category for a Pole) went to Dr. Joanna Bocheńska, an outstanding researcher and promoter of Kurdish culture, ex aequo with Prof. Dr. Janusz T. Pawęska, a well-known virologist working in the area of South Africa. 

Meanwhile, the Grand Prize (in the category for Foreigner) went to a British astronomer of Polish origin, Prof. Dr. Jan Charles Zarnecki, working with, among others, the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Live from Castle Museum Łańcut, Benedic the Pole Award ceremony (with ARSO Ensemble concerto)
Saturday 23 october 2021 hour 4pm CEST

On Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 16:00, in the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the 6th edition of Benedict the Pole Award ceremony will be held.

The Fifth Ceremony of Benedict the Pole Awards took place in the Concert Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw on 15th of May 2019.

Benedict the Pole Awards are presented annually to two recipients, for outstanding explorations and research on land, sea, and in space. The award is named after a Franciscan friar Benedict the Pole, who accompanied an Italian friar Giovanni da Pian del Carpine from 1245 to 1247, on his diplomatic mission as a papal legate to the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. Papal emissaries travelled to the empire’s capital in Karakorum and had produced the first known to Europeans detailed accounts of Asia, 50 years before the travels of Marco Polo were famously written down. The Award Committee constituted of the Polish Chapter of the Explorers Club, City Council of Łęczyca, Łęczyca Starostwo (District Authority) Office and Warsaw Scientific Society.

The laureates of the Fifth Edition include professor Robert I. Frost, a prominent British historian, an author of a number of books on Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and professor Jacek Oleksyn, a dendrologist and climatologist. The Committee also gave two special mention awards to two explorers and travelers: to Anna Kufel-Dzierzgowska, a doyenne of Polish travelers (who first travelled abroad in 1964, and who in total has made 93 expeditions to more than 30 countries) and to Mateusz Waligóra, an explorer who has made the first ever solo crossing of the Gobi desert.

On the initiative of the Polish Chapter, on May 28, 2014 at the Castle in Łęczyca, an Agreement was signed on the creation of the Award. The signatories who created the Award Chapter are representatives of the Polish Chapter of the Explorers Club, the City Hall of Łęczyca, the County of Łęczyca and the Warsaw Scientific Society. The prize is awarded annually for outstanding exploration and research achievements on earth, in the sea and in space in the following categories: 1. Grand Award for a Polish citizen, 2. Award for a foreigner distinguished in cooperation with Polish researchers. The prize aims to promote Polish exploratory achievements and to remind, through the person of the Patron, the historical significance that our country has played in the field of intercultural contacts. Special Awards are also granted for outstanding achievements in the field of exploration. The jury has 12 members; its chairman is currently prof. dr hab. Stanisław Rakusa Suszczewski. All Winners become Honorary Members of the Award Chapter. The seat of the Award Chapter is the Royal Castle in Łęczyca, where usually in February the names of the winners of subsequent editions are announced. The ceremonies of the first four editions of the Award (2015 - 2018) were held at the Archdiocese of Tum near Łęczyca (more information about the Prize on the website - link), while the fifth edition took place on May 15, 2019 at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The ceremony of the 6th edition is planned for June 3rd, 2020 in the auditorium of the Collegium Maius (15th century) of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (link)