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Janusz A Zajdel Award

Entry updated 15 September 2025. Tagged: Award.

Polish Award for Fantastika chosen by Fandom. This was founded in 1984 at Polcon, the Polish national Convention, and initially named Sfinks, to be presented for literary achievements in the field of sf (later also Fantasy) in the preceding calendar year, so the first award for the year 1984 would be given at the 1985 convention in 1985. However, only a month before Polcon '85, Janusz A Zajdel died prematurely: to honour and commemorate him the award was renamed as The Janusz A Zajdel Award. Popularly known as the Zajdel, it is the most prestigious literary award within Poland, although its critics point out that the electorate is merely a small group of Polish fans, who must be attendees of the convention.

Initially, winners were selected by regional sf fan clubs. Since 1991 the system has been based on a two-stage ballot, similar to the Hugo Award, with a first stage of nominations (in the past occasionally questioned by the award's most fervent critics, who claimed that being nominated depended upon successful networking with certain circles of Polish sf/fantasy readers and activists) and the final ballot, open only to members of the current year's Polcon, who select a winner in preferential voting. The system also allows the voters to select a "no award" option, although the last time this received a majority of votes was in 1993.

Since 1991 the Janusz A Zajdel Award has had two categories: novel (works of more than approximately 30,000 words) and short story. In its early years it was given only for novels, and then for some time either for a short story, novella or a novel. 1991 also saw the introduction of a statuette presented to the winners.

The ceremony is held during Polcon; Jadwiga Zajdel, the writer's widow, attends and presents statuettes and certificates to winners.

In 2000, several stories by Zajdel winners were translated into English in the anthology Chosen by Fate: Zajdel Award Winners (anth 2000) edited by Elżbieta Gepfert, Grzegorz Kozubski and Piotr W. Cholewa. Misleadingly, most of the included works had not won the Zajdel Award but were merely penned by authors who had won for other work. That anthology, released by a Polish publishing house, seemingly went unnoticed by English-language critics; it might have been more successful had it contained more Zajdel-winning work. [KW/PKo]

Novel

Short story

  • 1990: Andrzej Sapkowski, "Mniejsze zło" (March 1990 Fantastyka; trans Danusia Stok as "The Lesser Evil" in The Last Wish, 2008)
  • 1991: Marek S Huberath, "Kara większa" (July 1991 Nowa Fantastyka; trans Wiesiek Powaga as "The Greater Punishment" in The Dedalus Book of Polish Fantasy, anth 1996, ed Wiesiek Powaga)
  • 1992: Andrzej Sapkowski, "Miecz przeznaczenia" ["The Sword of Destiny"] (in Miecz przeznaczenia ["The Sword of Destiny"] coll 1992)
  • 1993: Andrzej Sapkowski, "W leju po bombie" ["In a Bomb Crater"] (April 1993 Fenix)
  • 1994: Ewa Białołęcka, "Tkacz iluzji" ["The Illusion Weaver"] (August 1994 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 1995: Konrad T Lewandowski, "Noteka 2015" (April 1995 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 1996: Rafał A Ziemkiewicz, "Śpiąca Królewna" ["Sleeping Beauty"] (in Czerwone dywany, odmierzony krok ["Red Carpets, A Measured Stride"] coll 1995)
  • 1997: Ewa Białołęcka, "Błękit Maga" ["The Azure of a Mage"] (March 1997 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 1998: Anna Brzezińska, "Kochał ją, że strach" ["He Loved Her Like Crazy"] (October 1998 Magia i Miecz)
  • 1999: Antonina Liedtke, "CyberJoly Drim" (January 1999 Fenix)
  • 2000: Jacek Dukaj, "Katedra" ["The Cathedral"] (in W kraju niewiernych ["In the Land of the Unbelievers"] coll 2000)
  • 2001: Andrzej Ziemiański, "Autobahn nach Poznań" (February 2001 Science Fiction)
  • 2002: Andrzej Pilipiuk, "Kuzynki" ["Cousins"] (July 2002 Science Fiction)
  • 2003: Andrzej Ziemiański, "Zapach szkła" ["The Scent of Glass"] (in 3 parts in October, November, December 2003 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 2004: Anna Brzezińska, "Wody głębokie jak niebo" ["Waters as Deep as the Sky"] (October 2004 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 2005: Jarosław Grzędowicz, "Wilcza zamieć" ["Wolf Blizzard"] (in Deszcze niespokojne ["Rough Rains"] anth 2005)
  • 2006: Maja Lidia Kossakowska, "Smok tańczy dla Chung Fonga" ["A Dragon Dances for Chung Fong"] (in Księga smoków ["Book of Dragons"] anth 2006)
  • 2007: Wit Szostak, "Miasto grobów. Uwertura" ["City of Graves. Overture"] (in Księga strachu 2 ["Book of Fear 2"] anth 2007)
  • 2008: Anna Kańtoch, "Światy Dantego" ["Dante's Worlds"] (in Epidemie i zarazy ["Epidemics and Plagues"] anth 2008)
  • 2009: Robert M Wegner, "Wszyscy jesteśmy Meekhańczykami" ["We Are All Meekhans"] (in Opowieści z meekhańskiego pogranicza Północ-Południe ["Tales from the Meekhan Frontier North-South"] coll 2009)
  • 2010: Anna Kańtoch, "Duchy w maszynach" ["Spirits in Machines"] (in Jeszcze nie zginęła ["Not Yet Perished"] anth 2010)
  • 2011: Jakub Ćwiek, "Bajka o trybach i powrotach" ["A Fairytale about Cogs and Returns"] (in Księga wojny ["Book of War"] anth 2011)
  • 2012: Robert M Wegner, "Jeszcze jeden bohater" ["One More Hero"] (in Herosi ["Heroes"] anth 2012)
  • 2013: Anna Kańtoch, "Człowiek nieciągły" ["The Discontinuous Man"] (in Pożądanie ["Desire"] anth 2013)
  • 2014: Anna Kańtoch, "Sztuka porozumienia" ["The Art of Agreements"] (in Światy równoległe ["Parallel Worlds"] anth 2014)
  • 2015: Robert M Wegner, "Milczenie owcy" ["The Silence of a Lamb"] (in Legendy Polskie ["Polish Legends"] 2015 ebook)
  • 2016: Łukasz Orbitowski and Michał Cetnarowski, "Wywiad z Borutą" ["Interview with Boruta"] (in Legendy Polskie ["Polish Legends"] 2016 ebook)
  • 2017: Marta Kisiel, "Szaławiła" (in Dożywocie ["The Life Sentence"] coll 2017 [exp from Dożywocie 2010 with this story])
  • 2018: Marta Kisiel, "Pierwsze słowo" ["The First Word"] (in Pierwsze słowo ["The First Word"] anth 2018)
  • 2019: Marta Potocka, "Chomik" ["The Hamster"] (25 May 2019 Esensja web)
  • 2020: Krzysztof Matkowski and Krzysztof Rewiuk, "Święci z Vukovaru" ["The Saints from Vukovar"] (October 2020 Nowa Fantastyka)
  • 2021: Michał Cholewa, "Ucieczka" ["The Escape"] (31 December 2021 Fahrenheit web)
  • 2022: Michał Cholewa, "Na granicy" ["At the Border"] (31 Dec 2022 Fahrenheit web)
  • 2023: Agnieszka Hałas, "Świerszcze w soli" ["Grasshoppers in Salt"] (in Świerszcze w soli ["Grasshoppers in Salt"] anth 2023)
  • 2024: Aleksandra Janusz, "Dlaczego nie ma klanu kruka" ["Why There Is No Raven Clan"] (in Harde bestie ["Tough Beasts"], anth 2024)

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