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2009 Dr. Elemer Hantos Prize was awarded by Central Europe Foundation President Charles Epping and Award Committee Head Prof. Dr. Stefan Messman, in Warsaw, Poland.

The recipient of the 2009 Dr. Elemér Hantos prize, Adam Michnik, journalist and political activist, has worked tirelessly to defend democracy and human rights throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

Biography (from www.agora.pl): Adam Michnik: historian, co-founder of KOR (Committee for the Defense of Workers) 1976, detained many times during 1965-1980, a prominent "Solidarity" activist during the '80ties, spent a total of six years in Polish prisons for activities opposing the communist regime, member of the Round Table Talks 1989, member of the first non-communist parliament 1989-1991, editor-in-chief of the first independent Polish newspaper - Gazeta Wyborcza.

Author of books: Cienie zapomnianych przodków (The Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors), 1975; Kosciól, Lewica, Dialog (Church, the Left, Dialogue), Paris 1977; Penser la Pologne, 1983; Szanse Polskiej Demokracji (Chances of Polish Democracy), London 1984; Z dziejów honoru w Polsce. Wypisy wiezienne (from the History of Honour in Poland. Prison Notes), Paris 1985; Takie czasy...Rzecz o kompromisie (Such Other Times: Concerning Compromise), London 1985, Listy z Bialoleki (Letters from Bialoleka), Polskie pytania (Polish Questions), Paris 1987; Druga faza rewolucji (La Deuxieme Revolution), Paris 1990; Miedzy Panem a Plebanem, Warszawa 1995; Wyznania nawróconego dysydenta (Converted dissident's confessions) (2003); Wscieklosc i wstyd (Rage and shame) (2005);"W poszukiwaniu utraconego sensu" (2007); as well as articles in Gazeta.

His articles have been printed in Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Liberation, El Pais, Lettre International, New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, El Pais and many others.

Awards and distinctions
Polcul Foundation Award(1980)
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award(1986)
Cena Pelikán 2007 (Czech Republic, Listy)
Prize winner of Prix de la Liberte of the French PEN-Club (1988)
Europe’s Man of the Year (1989) – prize awarded by the magazine La Vie
Shofar Award (1991) – prize awarded by National Jewish Committee on Scouting
The prize of the Association of European Journalists (1995)
Imre Nagy’s medal
OSCE Prize for Democracy and Journalism (May 1996)
Order of Bernardo O’Higgins (Chile, 1998)
One of 50 people on the list of ”50 Press Freedom Heroes” by the International Press Institute
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2001)
Erasmus Prize (Netherlands, 2001)
PhD Honoris Causa in New School for Social Research, University of Minnesota, Connecticut College, University of Michigan
French Legion of Honor ( France, 2003)
Listed by “Financial Times” as one of the 20 most influential journalists in the world.
Professor of Kiev-Mohylan Academy; 1 September 2006.
Dan David Prize award 2006
Patron of the Media Legal Defence Initiative
PhD Honoris Causa Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic)