The 17th edition of the competition for students of junior-high schools and high schools, Historia Bliska (History at Hand), was launched on 10 September during a gala event at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. The main organiser is Karta Centre Foundation. In 2012, European Network Remembrance and Solidarity co-organised the competition. Keeping within the general theme, participants chose a topic that was important from the point of view of their local community – village, town, family, environment.

The task was to conduct their own research: collect, analyse and verify source materials (including accounts by witnesses of historic events), and present the outcome of their work in whatever form they choose. The theme of the 17th edition was ‘Poles and their neighbours after the Second World War: Against each other, side by side, together’. The Network financed special awards for international teams.