Ostroh students win prizes for research papers on Holodomor

The National University of Ostroh Academy recently held a student research paper competition on the Ukraine manmade famine (Holodomor) of 1932-33. The authors of the best papers were awarded certificates and cash prizes. One of the initiators of this scholarly competition was our newspaper. Editor in chief Larysa Ivshyna has often given lectures on this subject and distributed copies of the book Day and Eternity of James Mace from the newspaper’s Library Series. The competition was sponsored by the Canadian citizen Taras Hukalo, a well-known film director and producer. In Canada this Ukrainian Canadian activist helped make the world’s first documentary on the Holodomor, Ten Million Victims (1983).

The third prize was shared by graduate student Natalia Polishchuk for her paper entitled “The Political Causes of the Holodomor in Ukraine, 1932-33,” fourth-year history undergraduate Tetiana Kovalchuk for her study “The 1932-33 Holodomor in the Lviv-based Press,” and Olha Ishchuk, a fourth-year student majoring in religious studies, for “The Problems of the Holodomor in 20th-Century Ukrainian Prose.”

The jury conferred the second prize on Oleksandra Korniichuk, a fourth-year student majoring in religious studies, for her paper “Aid Efforts in Volyn in 1932-33: Participation of Citizens and the Church.” The first prize went to Valentyna Stashuk, a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in documents research and informational activities, for her study “A History of the Ukrainian Holodomor,” based on documents and eyewitness reports of Holodomor survivors. This kind of competition is now a tradition at Ostroh Academy. For the past several years, the Natalia and Ivan Danylenko family and the Ukraine-3000 Foundation have been holding a competition for best research papers, called “Let Us Honor the Past.” Oksana and Yaroslav Sokolyk, assisted by our newspaper, are the regular organizers of a competition devoted to the life and oeuvre of the prominent Ukrainian writer Ulas Samchuk. The Wynar family traditionally offers students scholarships to fund research on Ukrainian history, while Prof. Orest Cap (Canada) provides financial support to the Vytoky all-Ukrainian literary competition.

Owing to the fact that the state inadequately funds university research, public support of young researchers is of paramount importance.

Oleksii Kostiuchenko is a student at the National University of Ostroh Academy, majoring in document research and informational activities