Order of the Smile

Order of the Smile
The Order of the Smile (Polish: Order Uśmiechu) is an international award given by children to adults distinguished in their love, care and aid for children.
History
The idea of the Order of the Smile was established in 1968 by the Polish magazine Kurier Polski, inspired by Wanda Chotomska. In 1979 (announced by the UNESCO as the International Year of the Child) the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim officially recognized the Order. From then, the Order of the Smile became an international order.
In 1996, in Rabka, the Order of the Smile Museum was established on the grounds of the family park known as "Rabkoland." After the region had been given the official status of the "City of Children from around the World," an initiative was put forward to open a permanent Polish Santa's Village, which would accept letters addressed to Santa Claus from children across Poland.
In 2003 an International Chapter of the Order of the Smile session took place outside the Warsaw headquarters in Świdnica, where the Child Friendship Center was being erected. Świdnica had been officially titled the "Capital of Children's Dreams," and September 21, 2003, was declared Order of the Smile Children's Day.
Design
Chotomska's television series Jacek i Agatka announced a competition to submit a design for the Order of the Smile. The award's logo was created and developed by a nine-year-old girl from Głuchołazy, Ewa Chrobak. Using a plate as a template, she drew a sun, and added uneven rays of light. The design, one of 45,000 that had been submitted, was chosen by Szymon Kobyliński, who elaborated it into its current form.
Nomination
All candidates for the Order of Smile should be nominated by children. Nominations can come from a single child or collectively from many children. Nominations can be submitted from all around the world. The candidates should be people of extraordinary love and work for children. Nominations should be sent to the International Chapter of the Order of Smile (ICOS). Afterwards the candidates are chosen to be Laureates by the Chapter.
The Order is awarded twice a year: in spring and in fall. Laureates of the Order of Smile include now about 1000 people from almost 50 countries (state of April 2016).
Decorating
The medal - which is a badge representing a smiling sun - is awarded in Warsaw, Poland by the International Chapter of the Order of the Smile. There is a special procedure of the decoration. In special cases the decoration could be held outside Poland, in the country of the laureate. The right to use the title of the "Knight of the Order of Smile" is guaranteed only to those who were decorated at an official ceremony organized by the Chapter.
Traditionally, upon being awarded with the medal, each recipient must drink a glass or cup of lemon juice while smiling throughout the process.
International Chapter
Although most of the 59 members of the Chapter are of Polish descent, it includes representatives from other countries such as Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
At the forefront of the International Chapter of the Order of Smile stands the Chancellor, Marek Michalak, who remains in this position since 19 January 2007. Previous Chancellors include: Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina (from 1968 to 1976), Radoslaw Ostrowicz (from 1982 to 1990), and Cezary Leżenski (from 1976 to 1981, and again from 1992 to 2006).
On 16 November 1992, the International Chapter of the Order of Smile was officially registered in Poland as an association.
Winners
Some notable Knights to receive the Order of the Smile include:
Jacek Cygan
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Bartosz Arłukowicz
Tadeusz Balcerowski
Agniya Barto
Gerhard Behrendt
Nina Bichuya
Ewa Błaszczyk
Wanda Błeńska
Jakub Błaszczykowski
Henryk Borowski
Marek Borowski
Assen Bossev
Bohdan Butenko
Czesław Centkiewicz
Bernadette Chirac
Henryk Chmielewski
Wanda Chotomska
Václav Čtvrtek
Tibor Czorba
14th Dalai Lama
Wiktor Dega
Janusz Dobrosz
Anna Dymna
Joni Eareckson Tada
Joanna Fabisiak
Krystyna Feldman
Arkady Fiedler
Benjamin Fiore, SJ
Pope Francis
Piotr Fronczewski
Stanley H. Fryczynski Jr.
Dora Gabe
Janina Garścia
Niki Goulandris
Henryk Gulbinowicz
Andrzej Gut-Mostowy
Judit Halász
Dagmar Havlová
Zbigniew Herman
Mirosław Hermaszewski
Gavriil Ilizarov
Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski
Stanisław Jankowski
Alina Janowska
Éva Janikovszky
Tove Jansson
Otylia Jędrzejczak
Ignacy Jeż
Majka Jeżowska
Michał Józefczyk
Pope John Paul II
Irena Jurgielewiczowa
Bogusław Kaczyński
Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Zygmunt Kęstowicz
Ian Kiernan
Hilary Koprowski
Marek Kotański
Maria Kownacka
Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin
Paweł Kukiz
Dominika Kulczyk
Jacek Kuroń
Jolanta Kwaśniewska
Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Irena Kwiatkowska
Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr.
Zbigniew Lengren
Robert Lewandowski
Astrid Lindgren
Franciszek Macharski
Halina Machulska
Peter Maffay
Ivan Malkovych
Nelson Mandela
Alina Margolis-Edelman
Anđelka Martić
Robert Mayer
Marek Michalak
Sergey Mikhalkov
Leszek Miller
Anna Mkapa
Małgorzata Musierowicz
Anne, Princess Royal
Moza bint Nasser
Władysław Nehrebecki
Edmund Niziurski
Józef Nowak
Sergey Obraztsov
Wiesław Ochman
Janina Ochojska
Jerzy Owsiak
Hanna Ożogowska
Ryszard Pacławski
Stanisław Pagaczewski
Farah Pahlavi
Waldemar Pawlak
Marek Plura
Jerzy Przybylski
Janusz Przymanowski
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah
Zbigniew Religa
J. K. Rowling
Viktar Shalkevich
K. Shankar Pillai
James Rutka
Zbigniew Rychlicki
Sue Ryder
Ryszard Rynkowski
Irena Santor
Irena Sendler
Queen Silvia of Sweden
Sargent Shriver
Stanisław Skalski
Henryk Skarżyński
Adam Słodowy
Steven Spielberg
Jerzy Stuhr
Jan Szczepański
Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina
Alfred Szklarski
Mother Teresa
Jan Twardowski
Eleni Tzoka
Peter Ustinov
Mariele Ventre
Kurt Waldheim
Oprah Winfrey
Maciej Wojtyszko
Marian Woronin
Sarah, Duchess of York
Malala Yousafzai
Rolf Zuckowski
Wojciech Żukrowski
The youngest Knight to ever receive the Order of the Smile is Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded the order in 2016, then aged 19. The oldest was Irena Sendler in 2007, aged 97.
See also
References
4. Pagan, M. (1989, January 25). Helping children with sick hearts. The Record, pp. 49–49. .Retrieved 2022-3-25.
External links
Official site of the Order of the Smile
International orders, decorations, and medals
Polish awards
Awards established in 1968
1968 establishments in Poland