Prof Dr Barbara Malič received the International Award of Ferroelectric Materials and Their Applications at the 41st Meeting on Ferroelectric Materials and Their Applications on June 12-15, 2024, in Kyoto, Japan. The meeting aimed to bring together researchers and engineers from Japan and the international community focusing on phenomena and measurement methods related to polarization, the preparation, properties, and evaluation of materials, including single crystals, ceramics, amorphous materials, thin films, polymers, liquid crystals, and composites, and applications related to polarization. In her award lecture entitled Sodium-Potassium-Niobate Based Piezoelectric Ceramics: Processing – Microstructure - Properties, Malič reviewed the research on alkali niobate-based ceramics. Besides barium titanate-based and sodium bismuth titanate-based piezoelectric ceramics, alkali niobate-based materials are one of the material groups studied as a viable and environment-friendlier alternative to commercially most widespread highly efficient piezoelectric bulk ceramics that contain about 60 weight % of lead.