The Marcin Antczak Award is presented annually for an outstanding and inspiring ornithological paper published in the preceding year in a peer-reviewed journal
A unique hand made silver shrike badge, Authored by Tomasz Szpakowski.
The candidate can be an amateur or professional scientist up to 37 years old who originates from Poland, the Czech Republic or Slovakia; or can be from any other country if the research upon which the paper is based was carried out in any of the aforementioned countries. The ideas presented in the awarded paper must be strongly related to the field of ornithology; studies on difficult and charismatic species (or topics) will be favoured.
The nominee must be the sole author, or leading (the first and corresponding) author of multi-author paper and should have played a prominent role in shaping the publication.
This award comes with a cash prize and a unique, hand made silver shrike badge. The awarded Author must agree to give a lecture in Poznań (Poland); costs will be covered by the inviting institution. Details about the award will be published in Acta Ornithologica.
Nominations are proposed and awarded by the International Board of Marcin Antczak Award (IBMAA), consisting of ornithologists from Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, but any ornithologist in encouraged to send their personal nomination to the Board with a maximum two page covering letter justifying their choice.
Nominations should be sent to ibmaa@life.pl before 1st March each year. The results will be announced in summer and the successful author will be invited to present their research in Poznań at a convenient date (usually in October). The invited lecture will be a ticketed event and funds raised will go to help Marcin Antczak’s family.
The International Board of Marcin Antczak Award (for 2018 Award) consists of Elodie Briefer (Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich),Svein Dale (University of Life Sciences, Norway), Martin Hromada (University of Presov, Slovakia), Anton Krištín (Institute of Forest Ecology SAS, Slovakia), Tomasz D. Mazgajski (Muzeum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland), Piotr Tryjanowski (University of Life Science, Poland), Sandra Vehrencamp (Cornell University, USA), Tomasz S. Osiejuk – chairman (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland) and earlier awarded persons: Piotr Minias (University of Łódź, Poland), Jiří Reif (Charles University in Prague, Czechia).
Laureates (in time reversed order)
9th MAAward, 2024 - Jan Hanzelka, more details soon
Hanzelka J, Baroni D, Martikainen P, Eeva T, Laaksonen T (2023) Cavity‑breeding birds create specific microhabitats for diverse arthropod communities in boreal forests. Biodiversity and Conservation 32:384-3874. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-023-02653-4
Hanzelka J, Baroni D, Laaksonen T (2023) Occupancy rates of excavated cavieties and nest boxes in managed boreal forest in relation to forest structure. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 38:367-379. DOI: 10.1080/028727581.2023.2235272
8th MAAward, 2022 - Jan Jedlikowski from Faculty of Biology, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, University of Warsaw
Jedlikowski J, Polak M, Koperski O, Ręk P 2021 Response to heterospecific calls in non-passerine species: can two Rallidae species recognise each other based on their vocalisation? Ethology 127:710-719. DOI: 10.1111/eth.13208
Jedlikowski J, Polak M, Brambilla M, Ręk P 2021. Vocal and non-vocal behavior interact differently in territorial strategies of two sympatric Rallidae species. Journal of Ornithology 162:243-254. DOI: 10.1007/s10336-020-01808-2
7th MAAward, 2021 - Paweł Mirski from the University of Białystok and Estonian University of Life Sciences (Tartu)
Mirski P et al. 2021* Sex-, landscape- and climate-dependent patterns of home-range size - a macro scale study on an avian generalist predator. Ibis 163:541-657. DOI: 10.111/ibi.12894
*The article was first published on 15 October 2020.
Mirski P (2020) Tree cover density attracts rare bird of prey specialist to nest in urban forest. Urban Forest & Urban Greening 55: 126836. DOI: 10.1016/jufug.2020.126836
Valli U, Mirski P et al. 2020 Movement patterns of an avian generalist predator indicate functional heterogeneity in agricultural landscape. Landscape Ecology 35: 1667-1681. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-020-01043-3
6th MAAward, 2020 - Katerina Sam from the Institute of Entomology, Biology Center Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, and Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science at the University of South Bohemia
Sam K, Koane B, Bardos DC, Jeppy S, Novotny V 2019. Species richness of birds along a complete rain forest elevational gradient in the tropics: Habitat complexity and food resources matter. Journal of Biogeography 46: 279–290.
Mrazova A, Sam K 2019. Exogenous application of methyl jasmonate to Ficus hahliana attracts predators of insects along an altitudinal gradient in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Tropical Ecology 35: 157–164.
5th MAAward, 2019 - dr Łukasz Jankowiak from Chair of Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Szczecin University, Poland
Jankowiak Ł, Zyskowski D, Wysocki D 2018. Age-specific reproduction and disposable soma in an urban population of Common Blackbird Turdus merula. Ibis 160: 130-144.
Jankowiak Ł, Cholewa M, Wysocki D 2018. Survival costs of within- and between-season mate change in the European blackbird Turdus merula. Journal of Avian Biology 49:e01643.
Wysocki D, Cholewa M, Jankowiak Ł 2018. Fledgling adoption in European Blackbird: An unrecognized phenomenon in a well-known species. Behavioral Ecology 29: 230-235.
4th MAAward, 2018 - Jakub Szymkowiak from Population Ecology Lab, Adam Mickiewicz University
Szymkowiak J, Kuczyński L 2017. Song rate as a signal of male aggressiveness during territorial contests in the wood warbler. Journal of Avian Biology 48: 275-283.
Szymkowiak J, Thomson RL, Kuczyński L 2017. Interspecific social information use in habitat selection decisions among migrant songbirds. Behavioral Ecology 28: 767-775.
3rd MAAward, 2017 - Michal Šulc from Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Brno)
Šulc M, Procházka P, Capek M, Honza M 2016. Birds use eggshell UV reflectance when recognizing non-mimetic parasitic eggs. Behavioral Ecology 27: 677-684.
Šulc M, Procházka P, Capek M, Honza M 2016. Common cuckoo females are not choosy when removing an egg during parasitism. Behavioral Ecology 27: 1642-1649.
2nd MAAward, 2016 - Jiří Reif from Charles University in Prague, Institute for Environmental Studies
Reif J., Jiran M, Reifova R, Vokurkova J, Dolata PT, Petrusek A, Petruskova T 2015. Interspecific territoriality in two songbird species: potential role of song convergence in male aggressive interactions. Animal Behaviour 104: 131-136.
1st MAAward, 2015 - Piotr Minias from University of Łódź
Minias P 2014. Evolution of within-colony distribution patterns of birds in response to habitat structure. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 68: 851-850.
Minias P, Kaczmarek K, Włodarczyk R, Janiszewski T 2014. Melanin-based coloration covaries with fluctuating asymmetry, nutritional state and physiological stress response in common snipe. Journal of Avian Biology 45: 51-58.
