Press release
Witold Szablowski, reporter of "Large Format" and "Gazeta Wyborcza" won a prize named after Beata Pawlak for his book " The killer from the apricot town" (Publishing house: Czarne, 2010).
"Turkey is today in the centre of attention due to anti-authoritarian revolution in North Africa and Near East. But what is this Turkey like every day? Is Turkey really two Turkeys: this Istanbul one of Pamuk and that Turkey of Anatolia region - distrustful and unwilling to secular modernization? Szablowski leads us through this Turkish labyrinth with confidence. To us, readers in Poland, Szablowski Gives opportunity to reflect over our national character" - wrote in the justification the jury granting the award.
The prize of Beata Pawlak - the journalist and writer, who died on October 12, 2002 in the terrorist attack in Bali, is granted for texts on other cultures, religions and civilizations published in Polish language.
This year apart from Szablowski, the nominations to the award received: Monika Bułaj (God's People. The journey to the borderland of Europe", Bosz 2010), Ewa Jasiewicz ("To set fire to Gaza" W.A.B, 2011), Marcin Michalski and Maciej Wasilewski ("81:1. The Stories from the Faroe Islands", Czarne, 2011) and Jędrzej Morawiecki " Shelling the light. Russian reportages", Sic!, 2010).