Little-Known Story of WWII Heroism Earns a Prestigious 2012 PROSE Prize

Feb. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, by Captain Witold Pilecki, translated by Jarek Garlinski (Aquila Polonica Publishing), has won the 2012 PROSE Award for Biography & Autobiography.

The 37th annual PROSE Awards—the American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence—were presented at the Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.  PROSE honors the best in professional and scholarly publishing, as judged by peer publishers, librarians and academics. This year’s competition attracted 518 entries of books, reference works, journals and electronic products in more than 40 categories.

“We’re thrilled that The Auschwitz Volunteer won the 2012 PROSE Award for Biography & Autobiography,” said Aquila Polonica president Terry Tegnazian. “As a young independent publisher, we were honored to be in competition with major university presses and large established publishing companies. This award is confirmation for us that we’re doing something right!”

Tegnazian continued, “We’re especially pleased that this award will help bring recognition to an amazing story of heroism that was suppressed for decades by the communists—the firsthand report of Polish Army officer Witold Pilecki, who volunteered for an almost certainly suicidal secret undercover mission as a prisoner at Auschwitz in order to tell the world what was happening there and to build a resistance organization among the prisoners.”

“The incredible number of entries we received this year is a testament to the vibrancy and variety of the scholarly publishing sector,” said John A. Jenkins, Chairman, PROSE Awards and President and Publisher Emeritus, CQ Press. “The winners and honorable mentions announced this year are high caliber works and genuinely represent the best in scholarly publishing.  Hats off to our judges who spent many hours tackling this formidable challenge.”

About Aquila Polonica Publishing

Aquila Polonica Publishing is dedicated to publishing, in English, the Polish experience of World War II with first-hand accounts, memoirs, photographs, artwork, poetry, literature and historical studies.