We are pleased to announce the Winners of our task contest ‘Borderland Personalities’ which was addressed at youth. The aim of the competition was to bring into the spotlight the outstanding personalities, those who connected our nations, made an extraordinary contribution to history and culture or in other positive way influenced the Programme area.

The idea was to write a literary piece with an original approach to the given subject.

It was a challenging task that required creativity and persistence in getting to know the personality. We received 63 applications from all three Programme countries. The youngest participant was 10 years old, while the most grown-up ‘teen’ was 30 years old. We are grateful for your interest and great involvement in the competition!

The Jury decided to evaluate works by dividing them into four age categories. We are proud to share the results and present the Winners. In the opinion of the Jury, the best works are:

Category: 10-13 years old
Main prizes:
Dmitry Kisly, “Tadeusz Kościuszko – the hero of three continents” (fantasy),
Julita Łukowska, “King John's letters to his Marysieńka” (legend, fairy tale),
Yaroslav Voynov, “Ludwig Zamenhof. Bona faro ne detrueblas!” (essay),
Ivan Apolonik, “Heritage of Chreptowicz” (essay).

Distinctions:
Karolina Stećko, “Special guest ... Jan III Sobieski” - interview with the king,
Grzegorz Łagowski, “Eliza Orzeszkowa” (poem),
Ihor Datsiv, “Jan Zeh and the kerosene lamp” (essay),
Volodymyr Shutiak, “Solomiia Krushelnytska and her role in improving Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian relations” (essay),
Oleksandr Shutiak, “Sofia Yablonska” (poem),
Yaroslav Urban, “The artist who stopped time” (essay).

Category: 14-15 years old
Main prizes:
Rodion Chuchva, “A letter from the past” (letter),
Anna Strzępek, “What if it hadn't happened?” (story),
Olesia Kotyash, “The language of unity of Ludwig Zamenhof” (essay),
Daria Pyshchula, “An interesting old man or Jan Zeh” (epos),
Anna Borisik and Vyacheslav Rogocevich, “A story of two Marys” (story).

Distinctions:
Kamila Wrażeń, “Poem in honor of a wise woman” (poem),
Julia Olejasz, “Poem about Jan III Sobieski” (poem),
Wiktoria Bartoszuk “Stanisław Moniuszko” (essay),
Yulia Pereskotska, “Józef Kraszewski - a man of extraordinary talent” (essay),
Nikita Staselovich, “He was called Ferdynand… To the 150^th anniversary of Ferdynand Ruszczyc” (poem),
Anastasiya Pietrikievich, “Napoleon Orda” (article).

Category: 16-17 years old
Main prizes:
Kamil Małachowicz, “Poem about Józef Ignacy Kraszewski” (dramatic poem),
Andrei Bekman, “My amazing encounter with Lew Sapieha” (story),
Margarita Yankovskaya, “Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof” (diary, poem).

Distinctions:
Sofia Pavlovska, “The glorious Czartoryski family” (poem),
Solomiia Horbatsio, “Stanisław Vincenz and his work “On the high plain“ (essay),
Sofia Mudryk, “The long road to self” (historical research).

Category: 18+ years old
Distinctions:
Roman Bachyshche, “Uniter of Nations” (poem),
Yevgeni Chebotar, “Pavliuk Bagrim” (article).

Every Winner will receive a prize, in accordance with the Contest rules.
- Main prize: a set of unique Programme teenager’s gadgets with a total value of approx. 100 EUR;
- Distinction: a set of Programme promotional/ teenager’s gadgets with a total value of approx. 50 EUR.

To appreciate efforts of participating in the Contest, the Jury decided that each of other Participants (without a main prize and distinction) will also receive some promotional Programme gadgets. We will contact the Participants individually to arrange the delivery of the prizes.

We again thank all the Participants in the competition, congratulate the Winners and already now invite you to our further contests!

To appreciate and distinguish the Winners of our Contest ‘Borderland Personalities’ (2020 Edition) we have prepared the brochure collecting the works awarded in the Contest. The link to the brochure can be found below. It can be also downloaded from the ‘Library tab’ of this website.

Please enjoy the reading!