Maciej crowned Ireland’s outstanding Pole

Chairperson of Gorey.pl, Polish Cultural Association, Maciej Neumann-Kochaski has been named as ‘Outstanding Pole Ireland 2019’ by the Polish embassy in Ireland in the field of culture.

‘ This is the first time that someone from a town like Gorey has won the competition, and this prestigious award is there not only to acknowledge his achievements, but to appreciate the hard work of the entire Gorey.pl association and all people contributing to its operations, congratulations to Maciek,’ said Ola Riquet of Gorey.pl.

The ‘Outstanding Pole in Ireland’ competition is the initiative of the Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation aiming at creating the positive image of Poles, presenting their achievements and acknowledging and promoting individuals who managed to succeed both in Poland and abroad. ‘We are very proud of Maciek, and we are so glad that Gorey.pl initiatives have been recognised again,’ said Ola Riquet, of Gorey.pl.

In Ireland the competition is organised by the Creative Thinking Club in cooperation with the Polish Embassy in Dublin.

Maciej Neumann-Kochaski was born in Warsaw in 1974, and works in the advertising and marketing sector.

He has been in Ireland since 2005, and he currently works in Dublin at the NSSO unit of the Public Expenditure and Reform Department of Ireland.

In 2015, he came to be a co-founder of Gorey.pl, Polish Cultural Association, with the mission of promoting Polish culture in Ireland.

He always strives to be a worthy ambassador of his country, and always tries to be an initiator and organiser of numerous cultural events, most recently the 400 reasons to love Gorey initiative.

Maciej has an active athlete throughout his life, first finding an interest in scuba diving in 1991.

He was won medals in recreational shooting in Ireland but his proudest sporting achievement was the winning of three medals during the Taekwondo World Championships in 2018 for Team Ireland.

Maciej is also the organiser of the Gorey edition of the PolskaEire Festival, which has become one of the most prominent events of this type in Ireland, this year guests of the festival will visit to Gorey.

On a daily basis, together with the association, Maciej actively supports Irish cultural events in Gorey, which unites people by means of culture, art and having fun together.