THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE
UNA announces winners of essay contest marking Ukraine's independence
by Oksana Trytjak
UNA Special Projects Coordinator
PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The Ukrainian National Association announced the winners of its essay contest in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. The contest theme was "What the Independence of Ukraine Means to Me."
The contest was open to high school and college students, and essays were to be written in either Ukrainian or English. Forty-four students submitted essays - 20 in English and 24 in Ukrainian. The students were of varied backgrounds, ranging in age from 15 to 22, American-, Canadian-and Ukrainian-born, and with as many viewpoints as there were submissions.
Six qualified judges read and reread the essays and judged them on the basis of content and language.
Olha Kuzmowycz, editor of Svoboda; Basil Tershakovec, former editor of Svoboda and long-time teacher and director of schools of Ukrainian studies in New Jersey; and Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, the UNA's second vice-president and news editor at Voice of America, judged the Ukrainian essays.
The English-language essays were judged by Roma Hadzewycz, editor-in-chief of The Ukrainian Weekly; Bohdanna Vitvitsky, advanced placement English literature teacher at John P. Stevens High School; and Zirka Voronka, English as a second language professor at Passaic County Community College.
The first prize was shared by Laura Fulmes, 16, a student at Holy Name High School in Cleveland, who submitted a Ukrainian-language essay, and Anne Maziak, 19, of Bloomfiekd Hills, Mich., a student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, who wrote in English. The two will split the top prize of $1,000.
Peter Steciuk, 20, of Convent Station, N.J., a student at Harvard University, won second prize, a weekend at Soyuzivka, for his English-language essay.
Third prize, the two-volume "Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopaedia," was awarded to Bohdan Kedyulych, 21, of Bethlehem, Pa., a student at Northampton Community College, who wrote in Ukrainian.
The judges selected another six essay writers for honorable mention: Solomiya Ivashchuk, Vitaliy Kupchynski and Roman Petryk, who submitted essays in Ukrainian; and Nina Celuch, Natalia Romas and Nicholas Rudyk, who wrote in English.
The top five Ukrainian- and English-language essays are being published, respectively, in Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly. These 10 essays also will be forwarded to the president of Ukraine.
What Ukraine's independence means to me: the top five English-language essays
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 19, 2001, No. 33, Vol. LXIX
| Home Page |