Since 2018 the Polish Communication Association has been an institutional partner of “Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award”. The Award was established in 2018 by Małgorzata Semil-Jakubowicz; it is granted to outstanding contributions in the areas of scientific interests of Karol Jakubowicz. The overall goal is to support scholars who contribute to studies on democracy, human rights, policy-making, media ethics and public service media. The Selection Committee of the Award includes: Małgorzata Semil-Jakubowicz (Honorary Member of the Committee and the Award Funder), prof. Iwona Hofman (Chair of the Committee; President of the Polish Communication Association; Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin), prof. Alicja Jaskiernia (University of Warsaw), dr. Hanna Machińska (Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Warsaw), prof. Michał Głowacki (Editor-in-chief of Central European Journal of Communication; University of Warsaw), prof. Beata Klimkiewicz (Jagiellonian University), prof. Elżbieta Matynia (the New School for Social Research), Halina Rostek (National Broadcasting Council, Poland), prof. Jerzy Olędzki (Honorary Member of the PCA), and joint Presidents of the International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR) - Dr Alessandro D'Arma (University of Westminster) & Dr Maria Michalis (University of Westminster).
In 2018 the Awards were granted to Maria Nowina Konopka (Jagiellonian University) and Jakub Nowak (Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin). An Award for long-time contributions to the theory and practice of public service media was granted to Christian S. Nissen, international expert and former Director General of Danmarks Radio.
Photo: Members of the Selection Committee and Winners of the first edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award during the conference of the European Media Management Association (Warsaw, June 15, 2018). Photo by: Jarosław Królikowski, Anna Onuszczuk (Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw).
In 2019 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to Małgorzata Adamik-Szysiak (Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin) and Maria Łoszewska-Ołowska (University of Warsaw).
Photo: Members of the Selection Committee and Winners of the second edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award during the 5th Congress of the Polish Communication Association (Warsaw, September 19, 2019). Photo by: Paweł Brzeziński, Anna Zapolska-Downar (Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw).
In 2020 the Selection Committee and previous Award winners nominated six books for “Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award” with – for the first time ever – one book published outside Poland. This was a sign for internationalisation strategy adopted by the Committee during the meeting at the Bureau of Commissioner for Human Rights in Poland.
Photo: The Selection Committee decides on nominated books for the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award (Warsaw, March 11, 2020). Photo by: The Office of the Commissioner of Human Rights, Poland.
In 2020 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to Agnieszka Walecka-Rynduch (The Pedagogical University of Cracow).
Photo: Members of the Selection Committee, Winner of the third edition of the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award and participants of the award ceremony held at the ffice of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Warsaw, July 15, 2020). Photo by: Dagmara Derda (the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights)
From 2021, the Selection Committee also includes representatives of the International Association of Public Media Researchers (IAPMR) - submitting and nominating books for future editions of the Award is now a joint initiative of Polish and international scholars.
In 2021 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to Karen Donders from Belgium (VRT; Vrije Universiteit Brussel).
Photo: Karen Donders receives the Award Certificate from Michał Głowacki (Brussels, September 2021). Photo by: VRT.
In 2022 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to Urszula Doliwa (University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland).
Photo: The Award Ceremony in Gdańsk, Poland, on September 22, 2022: Katarzyna Konarska, Urszula Doliwa, Małgorzata Semil-Jakubowicz and Iwona Hofman. Photo by: Beata Użarowska (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań).
In 2023 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to prof. Slavko Splichal (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), the author of Datafication of Public Opinion and the Public Sphere: How Extraction Replaced Expression of Opinion (London, New York: Anthem Press, 2022). A special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2023 was awarded to Jolanta Kurska for her book Wieczny powrót Dreyfusa (Eng. Dreyfus: A Perpetual Comeback; Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog, 2022).
Photo: The Award Ceremony in Wrocław, Poland, on May 15, 2023: prof. Michał Głowacki, prof. Iwona Hofman, dr Jolanta Kurska (on stage, left to right); prof. R. Eugene Parta, prof. Slavko Splichal (online, top to bottom). Photo by: Jacek Mikucki (University of Warsaw, Poland).
In 2023 the Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award was granted to Ewa Nowak-Teter (Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland) for her monograph Opinia publiczna online (Eng. Public Opinion Online; Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, 2023). A special Media and Democracy Karol Jakubowicz Award 2024 was awarded to Piotr Pytlakowski for his book Strefa niepamięci (Eng. The Zone of No Memory; Warszawa: Agora, 2023).
Photo: Prof. Ewa Nowak-Teter receives the Award from Prof. I. Hofman and M. Semil-Jakubowicz during the plenary meeting of the Committee on Social Communication and Media Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences on June 10, 2024 at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. Photo by: Anita Has-Tokarz (Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin).
Authors: Michał Głowacki i Dagmara Sidyk-Furman