Reinstated after a seven-year absence, the Victors were presented at a ceremony in Warsaw.
The evening began with a tribute to war-torn Ukraine as the country’s 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala took to the stage to perform her hit song 1944, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Afterwards, she thanked the Polish people for their efforts to help Ukrainian refugees.
Next, it was announced that an honorary SuperVictor would go to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Jamala presented the award, which was collected on Zelensky’s behalf by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
‘Glory to Ukraine, glory to Poland’
Addressing the audience, Kuleba said the Ukrainian president’s defiance in the face of the Russian invasion had made him “a role model for all of us.”
Kuleba added that Zelensky would have dedicated the award to all freedom fighters. He told those at the ceremony that Ukrainians were battling not just for their own freedom but Poland’s as well.
“Together we are going to win. Glory to Ukraine, glory to Poland,” Kuleba said.
His statement was followed by a recorded address by Zelensky himself, who said: “Ukrainians are fighting bravely … but children are being killed and hospitals destroyed. A month has passed, yet we keep defending ourselves.”
Meanwhile, the Victor for best journalist went to Andrzej Poczobut, who remains in a Belarus jail. The Polish activist was arrested by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in March last year on charges of “inciting hatred” and has been imprisoned ever since.
In other highlights, Poland’s football star Robert Lewandowski won the Victor for sportsperson of the year. Collecting the award, the player’s mother praised the national team for refusing to play Russia in a World Cup qualification game over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Other award winners included filmmaker Jan Holoubek; Osiecka, a drama series about acclaimed 20th-century Polish poet and lyricist Agnieszka Osiecka; and Polish-American singer-songwriter Krystian Ochman, who is Poland’s pick for this year’s Eurovision contest.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, tvp.pl