Lincoln Library gives Lech Walesa leadership prize

CHICAGO — Officials at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation say they've chosen former Polish President Lech Walesa as the winner of the Lincoln Leadership Prize.

Walesa will accept the award Feb. 9 in Chicago.

Foundation CEO Carla Knorowski says the award recognizes people whose “lives and actions exemplify Lincoln's legacy of leadership.”

Walesa is a former shipyard worker and Nobel Peace Prize winner who in 1990 became the first democratically elected president in Polish postwar history. He served until 1995.

He first became known for his struggles to win worker's rights in Poland.

Walesa says the Lincoln Leadership Prize “pays homage” to Poland's economic and social revolution.

Past winners include Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Astronaut James Lovell Jr. and the late television journalist Tim Russert.