On the eve of the International Mother Language Day, on 20 February 2025, a solemn ceremony of awarding the winners of the regional stages of the 25th International Petro Yatsyk Ukrainian Language Competition and the 15th Taras Shevchenko International Ukrainian Language and Literature Competition for Students, as well as pedagogical and scientific staff who took an active part in participation and organisation of the competitions, attracting and encouraging talented students, took place at the House of Scientists in Lviv. All participants were awarded diplomas of various degrees, certificates of appreciation and valuable gifts.
For the community of the Department of Ukrainian Language, Lviv Polytechnic National University, International Mother Language Day is a special day. After all, the faculty of the Department are constantly working to raise the prestige of our native language, to develop a common language culture among students and to promote it not only in Ukraine, but also abroad. Therefore, this year the certificates of appreciation were awarded to six employees (Associate Professors Zoriana Kunch, Oksana Lytvyn, Sofiia Bulyk-Verkhola, Myroslava Hnatiuk and Senior Lecturers Iryna Mentynska and Volodymyr Diakiv), which confirmed the right vector of work with students, teachers, researchers and educators in general.
Thus, for many years of active participation and organisation of the language and literary competitions, we awarded the academic staff of the Department of Ukrainian Language, namely Oksana Lytvyn, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Ukrainian Language, and Iryna Mentynska, Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Ukrainian Language.
At the regional stage of the 25th International Petro Yatsyk Ukrainian Language Competition, First degree diploma was awarded to Solomiia-Mariia Mytlovych, a student of the Institute of Computer Science and Information Technologies (scientific supervisor – Zoriana Kunch, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Ukrainian Language, Director of the Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences), and Third degree diploma was received by Diana Demian, a student of Institute of Computer Science and Information Technologies (scientific supervisor – Sofia Bulyk-Verkhola, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Ukrainian Language).
The winners of Second degree diploma at the regional stage of the 15th Taras Shevchenko International Ukrainian Language and Literature Competition for Students are Marta Nalezhyta, ICSIT student (scientific supervisor – Sofia Bulyk-Verkhola, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Ukrainian Language), and Arsen Onyshchak, IMET student (scientific supervisor- Volodymyr Diakiv, Candidate of Philology, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Ukrainian Language), and Third degree diploma was awarded to Tetiana Kravchuk, ICSIT student (scientific supervisor – Myroslava Hnatiuk, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor at the Department of Ukrainian Language).
We are proud of this year’s awards, because we remember well the words of our great colleague Iryna Farion, who for more than 20 years has been involved in all kinds of Ukrainian language competitions, supporting them, delivering emotional speeches and awarding the winners: «The language is the rock on which the great Ukrainian building stands». When each of us stands guard over the Ukrainian language, we will also stand guard over Ukrainian statehood.
«Being involved in the in-depth study of the language is no longer just an honour, in times of war it is the duty... So I beg you to be ambitious about the language, I beg you to compete in studying it better every day... to be the voice of those who have been taken away», said in her welcome speech blogger Yuliia Slyvka. She called on the academic community to explain to young people the Ukrainian language as an identity – not as a system of rules or a way to communicate, but as an identity, because we will never build a house of our Ukrainian being without our native language, it will be a house without a roof. Today’s language competitions are a good opportunity to express yourself, to show your awareness. Let’s remember that the Ukrainian language is the path to self-awareness, to the continuity of generations and nation-building.
