Polish villages and communes in the "European Village Renewal Award" competition

A quarter of a century of the village renewal movement in Poland has passed. This movement was inspired by examples from Austria and Germany. The 25th anniversary of village renewal in Poland provides an opportunity for assessment, comparison and reflection, including comparisons with other countries and regions where village renewal programmes are implemented. One of the opportunities for such comparisons is the biennial competition called the "European Village Renewal Award", which has been held since 1990. Poland has been represented in the competition since 2000. The aim of the article was to assess the participation of Polish villages and communes in this undertaking, assuming that this is an indirect indicator of the state of Polish village renewal against the background of village renewal in the countries and regions represented in the competition. Of particular interest is the participation of Polish villages in this competition against the background of villages and communes from other countries, how they fit into its criteria and how they were assessed, as well as how individual voivodeships were represented in it. Answers to the above questions were helpful in formulating conclusions regarding the current course and future of village renewal in Poland. The research that is the basis for this study used the following research methods: document analysis, open participant observation, interviews with members of the competition jury, interviews with people representing villages and communes participating in the competition.