For Immediate Release (Calgary, Ottawa)
Sept. 18, 2009
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation (UCCLF) Friday launched its second annual student writing competition.
"After awarding $1,500 last year during the 75th anniversary of Ukraine's Famine-Genocide - the Holodomor - the Foundation is once again encouraging students to actively engage in and do research on a civil liberties theme and to commemorate victims of genocide," said Andriy Harasymiw, scholarships director for the Foundation.
Two separate awards are being offered. The first, the High School Civil Liberties Award, is valued at $500, and will go to a Canadian student aged 13 to 18 who submits the winning essay of up to 1,500 words based on a Holodomor theme. The winner will be determined by a selection committee derived from the Ukrainian Canadian community. Judging will be based solely on the quality of research essay?s content. Submission deadline has been set at Oct. 30, 2009.
The Civil Liberties Opinion-Editorial Award will go to a high school or post-secondary student whose Holodomor-based opinion-editorial appears in print in a major Canadian newspaper prior to the Nov. 30, 2009 deadline. The value of this award has been set at $1,000. However, this amount is subject to change in the event that an op-ed from more than one student is published in a major Canadian newspaper.
"We're very pleased with the number of applications we received last year," said Harasymiw. "The Foundation looks forward to receiving just as many high-quality submissions in the upcoming weeks."
Last year, Antin Stowell of Winnipeg won the High School Civil Liberties prize on the merits of his paper, while University of Toronto student Christina Dykun won the Civil Liberties Opinion-Editorial Award with her opinion/editorial on the Holodomor, published in the Calgary Sun.