Lech Walesa Media Awards

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Lech Walesa Media Awards President Lech Walesa premiered the Lech Walesa Media Award during the 38th International Polonaise Ball in 2010.

This award is the only one that President Walesa confers in the United States.

1 Lech Walesa Media Awards President Lech Walesa premiered the Lech Walesa Media Award during the 38th International Polonaise Ball in The Media Award is bestowed upon individuals whose lives and works have impacted the world through the written word and the field of communications. This award is the only one that President Walesa confers in the United States. Year 2015 Recipient David Ensor for dedication to the cause of freedom and featuring Poland's history in mainstream media David Ensor is the 28 th Director of the Voice of America (VOA) where he oversees a worldwide multimedia operation broadcasting in 45 languages and reaching over 172 million people each week. He joined VOA after an extensive career in journalism and communications, and served as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Earlier in 1975 to 1980, Ensor reported for NPR covering the White House and foreign policy; from 1980 to 1998, he was a television correspondent for ABC News; and from 1998 to 2006 he was CNN s National Security Correspondent. In 1982, ABC News sent Ensor to Poland to cover martial law which had been imposed by the Communist leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, in an attempt to crush the Solidarity movement. Under the leadership of Lech Walesa, Solidarity toppled Communism in Poland which eventually led to the collapse of the entire Soviet bloc. When Polish state television suppressed an interview with Walesa while he was interned under martial law because of his defiant tone, Ensor obtained a smuggled copy of the audio tape and shared it with the world. This and his coverage of many David Ensor other major international stories including two coup attempts, the first Chechen War from Moscow, Middle Eastern terrorism, and the travels of Pope John Paul II earned Ensor worldwide recognition. As a correspondent for CNN, Ensor completed a feature documentary on the Warsaw Uprising, detailing the historical account of the Polish Home Army s heroic fight against Nazi Germany and Soviet occupation in August During this little known battle to keep brutal oppressors from occupying their country, over 200,000 Poles were killed by the Germans. The TV special, Warsaw Rising: The Forgotten Soldiers of WWII, aired on Sunday, June 6, 2004, the 60 th anniversary of the uprising, and showed the world how the people of Warsaw responded to German occupation. Ensor is fluent in French with a basic knowledge of Polish, Russian and Italian. He received a B.A. with honors in European History from the University of California, Berkeley in In 1984, he married Anita Luzinska of Warsaw, herself a former NBC News television producer, in a ceremony officiated by Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, a chaplain of the opposition movement in Poland who was subsequently murdered by the Communist secret police. They have two children, Karolina and Andrew.

Year 2014 Recipient Andrew Nagorski for dedication to the cause of freedom and writing about Poland's history and culture Andrew Nagorski, who was born in Scotland to Polish parents, moved to the

An award-winning journalist who spent more than three decades as a foreign correspondent and editor for Newsweek, Nagorski is currently Vice President and Director of Public Policy at the EastWest

As senior editor for Newsweek from 2000 to 2008, Nagorski handled the editorial cooperation between the parent magazine and its expanding network of foreign language editions and other joint venture

Nagorski has written several non-fiction books that address historical events that have impacted the past and formed current world ideologies.

2 Year 2014 Recipient Andrew Nagorski for dedication to the cause of freedom and writing about Poland's history and culture Andrew Nagorski, who was born in Scotland to Polish parents, moved to the United States as an infant and has rarely stopped moving since. An award-winning journalist who spent more than three decades as a foreign correspondent and editor for Newsweek, Nagorski is currently Vice President and Director of Public Policy at the EastWest Institute, a New York-based international affairs think tank. He earned a B.A. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Amherst College in 1969, and studied at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. As senior editor for Newsweek from 2000 to 2008, Nagorski handled the editorial cooperation between the parent magazine and its expanding network of foreign language editions and other joint venture partners. Andrew Nagorski Among the new magazines that were launched during his tenure was Newsweek Polska, which has become Poland s leading news magazine since it started publication in Nagorski has written several non-fiction books that address historical events that have impacted the past and formed current world ideologies. His most recent book, Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power, received rave reviews in numerous publications, including The New York Review of Books and The Columbia Journalism Review. His first novel, Last Stop Vienna, about a young German who joins the early Nazi movement and is then propelled into a confrontation with Hitler, was on the Washington Post s bestseller list. In November 2009, Poland s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski presented Nagorski with the newly created Bene Merito award for his reporting from Poland about the Solidarity movement in the 1980s. In 2011, Poland s President Bronislaw Komorowski awarded him the Cavalry Cross for the same reason.

Year 2012 Recipients Alexander Storozynski President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, world-wide promoter of Polish history and culture Alex Storozynski is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a former

He has also been published in the European edition of The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Newsday and other publications.

4 Year 2012 Recipients Alexander Storozynski President of the Kosciuszko Foundation, world-wide promoter of Polish history and culture Alex Storozynski is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a former member of the New York Daily News editorial board, founding editor of amnewyork and former city editor of the New York Sun. He has also been published in the European edition of The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Post, Newsday and other publications. Storozynski served as chairman of the Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union, which has more than $1 billion in assets and 70,000 members, making it the largest ethnic credit union in the United States. In 2004, the Polish magazine Przegląd called Storozynski "a new type of leader in the Polish community," and even though he was born in Brooklyn, the magazine named him one of the "100 most influential Poles living abroad." In 2005, Polish-American World named him "Man of the Year" and in 2006, President Kaczynski awarded him with the "Gold Cross of Service" for his articles about Poland. And in 2007 the American Center of Polish Culture in Washington, D.C. awarded him for his "distinguished achievement in the field of journalism." Alexander Storozynski In November 2008, he was elected President of The Kosciuszko Foundation. His biography of Kosciuszko, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution, was published in Year 2011 Recipients Irene Tomaszewski Author and Editor, for her lifelong contributions to promoting to Polish history and culture Born in Archangielsk, Siberia after her parents were deported there in 1940, Irene Tomaszewski is a Montreal writer who has written for some of Canada's major newspapers and magazines. She is the author of Inside a Gestapo Prison: the Letters of Krystyna Wituska and co-author of Codename Zegota: the Council for Aid to Jews in Wartime Poland, published in May Ms. Tomaszewski is also an editor and writer with Cosmopolitan Review, an online quarterly magazine which encourages new writers to publish alongside well-established writers such as Norman Davies, Witold Rybczynski, Wanda Urbanska and Timothy Snyder. Irene Tomaszewski Ms. Tomaszewski is the founding president of the Canadian Foundation for Polish Studies (CFPS), which presents English language programs about Poland in cooperation with McGill and Concordia Universities. In 2003, Ms. Tomaszewski participated in organizing the curriculum for a 10-day summer program in Polish studies in the town of Canmore, Alberta, aptly named "Poland in the Rockies" with the support and participation of top authorities in the field, among them Norman Davies, Tamara Trojanowska, Andrew Nagorski and Alex Storozynski.

Year 2010 Recipients Dr. Horacio Aguirre Founder/Editor of Diario Las Americas, for his impact on improving the world through journalism Dr. Horacio Aguirre Dr.

newspaper which has been published continuously since July 4, 1953. Dr.

5 Year 2010 Recipients Dr. Horacio Aguirre Founder/Editor of Diario Las Americas, for his impact on improving the world through journalism Dr. Horacio Aguirre Dr. Horacio Aguirre will receive a special Media Award from President Lech Walesa for his role as the founding Editor and Editorial Writer of Diario Las Americas, Miami s original Spanish language daily newspaper which has been published continuously since July 4, Dr. Aguirre holds a law and political science degree from the University of Panama and has served in numerous capacities with the Inter American Press Association. Dr. Aguirre has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Polish Culture in Miami for over 30 years. His newspaper has featured articles on Poland s history and culture as well as educational and cultural events organized in South Florida. He also maintains membership in organizations including the World Press Freedom Committee, World Association of Newspapers, the Spain-USA Chamber of Commerce, the Panamanian Academy of International Law and the Association of Cuban Journalists in Exile. Dr. Horacio Aguirre has been recognized by many prestigious organizations, universities and Hispanic governments for his tremendous contributions to Miami s community. Anders Gyllenhaal Executive Editor of the Miami Herald, for his innovative leadership and excellence in journalism Anders Gyllenhaal is the executive editor of The Miami Herald, with responsibility for the news staff, from print and online to radio and web TV. His leadership and vision has seen his newsrooms awarded an unbroken string of President s Awards, the twice-annual award for excellence bestowed by the newspaper group, The McClatchy Company. He worked for 12 years as a reporter, investigative team member and city desk editor. Before that he was editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and was executive editor of the Raleigh News & Observer. A graduate of George Washington University, Gyllenhaal serves on the Board of the Pulitzer Prize, chairs the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and is a member of the Journalism Advisory Board at Elon University in North Carolina. Anders Gyllenhaal Anders and his wife, Beverly, a syndicated columnist and author, live in Coral Gables. They have two children.

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