The results of the nationwide competition ”The Polish Heart Broke. Katyn 1940”, announced on 25 January 2021 by the Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek, were announced on 13 April 2021.

The Honorary Committee of the competition included: President Andrzej Duda (chairman), the Speaker of the Sejm Elżbieta Witek, the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, the Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs Mariusz Kamiński, the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Przemysław Czarnek, the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Jarosław Szarek Ph.D., and Prof. Tadeusz Wolsza as the Head of the Committee.

The competition was held in three main categories - art, literary works and song lyrics. In the artistic category, the participant's task was to design a poster related to the Katyn Massacre, in the literary category - to write a text on "The contemporary dimension of the Katyn lie". The third, newly introduced competition category required the writing of a song referring to the Katyn Massacre.

A total of 3,628 works entered the competition, in this: 2,579 posters, 417 literary works and 632 song lyrics.

The jurors noted not only the high substantive level of the literary works on the Katyn lie but also the ingenuity of their authors. They were particularly impressed by the various genres used by the participants of the competition, including  plays, letters, reportages, short stories and essays.

They also noted how well acquainted the young authors were with literature on the subject of the Soviet crime of 1940 and the Katyn lie.

The jurors also assessed the submitted song lyrics, noting that although they all touched upon the topic of the Katyn tragedy, the young artists had managed to address the subject using various, often very innovative forms, rhymes and metaphors. What was the most touching, however, was the overall, predominant message of the songs - strong emotions combined with sensitivity when referring to human tragedies and the victims of that crime: Polish officers and their families.

When it comes to the artistic category (posters), in this year's edition their level has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the showpiece of the competition. The number of art works exceeded all expectations. The competition committee, taking into account the popularity of the competition (over 3,600 applications and a high level in each of the categories), sees the need to continue this extremely valuable initiative in the coming years.

The results of the competition were announced during the gala broadcast by TVP 1 on Tuesday, 13 April 2021.

The laureates are:

ART:

1. Jagoda Sołtysiak

2. Paweł Szczepanik

3. Artem Iakubets

Honorable mentions:

4. Oliwia Owczarek

5. Wiktoria Mikołajczyk

6. Klaudia Zega

7. Aleksander Stachów

8. Filip Ulaczyk

9. Wiktoria Waśko

10. Borys Sterlingow

LITERARY WORKS:

1. Ilona Woś

2. Łukasz Celniak

3. Julia Pikul

Honorable mentions:

4. Juliusz Obszarny

5. Kamil Jabłoński

6. Wiktoria Jarema

7. Natalia Boruń

8. Mariusz Waleryś

9. Piotr Adamczyk

10. Oliwia Guźlecka 

SONG LYRICS:

1. Kamila Jedynak

2. Dominika Liszkiewicz

3. Małgorzata Skowrońska

Honorable mentions:

4. Natalia Fatyga

5. Olga Szaniawska

6. Karolina Zając

7. Kacper Widłak

8. Luiza Maria Lubowicka

9. Kamil Toczko

10. Daria Nowaczyk