Stadnyk Receives Journalism Awards

The Canadian Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (CFUS) is pleased to announce that Alexandra Stadnyk of Toronto is the 2008 recipient of both the Stephania Bubniuk Award in Journalism Studies and the Olga Wirsta Award in Communications, Journalism and Media Studies.

Alexandra Stadnyk is a recent graduate of the Master of Arts in Journalism Program at the  University of Western Ontario. Her interest in journalism was sparked by Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004–5, when she was motivated to write about the events taking place in Ukraine for the mass media in Waterloo, Ontario. As a journalism student, Ms. Stadnyk contributed to various local newspapers. She profiled Ukrainian-American filmmaker Damian Kolody, the Ukrainian Holodomor survivor Mykola Latyshko, and the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus. She also wrote articles about freedom of the press in Ukraine as well as the country’s economy and business affairs. Ms. Stadnyk also prepared a radio report about the initiative of the Help Us Help the Children project of the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund to raise public awareness about the scourge of human trafficking. In 2007, Ms. Stadnyk completed an internship with the Associated Press in Belgium. After graduating in May 2007, she moved to Ukraine, where she is now working as a journalist for the Kyiv Post.

The Stephania Bubniuk Award in Journalism Studies was founded by the late Stephania Bubniuk, a well-known Ukrainian-Canadian journalist and community activist. The Olga Wirsta Award in Communications, Journalism and Media Studies was founded in memory of Mrs. Olga Wirsta of Toronto. Both awards were established to encourage promising students in journalism, communications, and media studies to pursue their goals and use their journalistic skills to contribute to a better understanding of the Ukrainian Diaspora, highlighting its communities’ histories, members, and different aspects of their life experiences. Students in radio, television, and film journalism or in communications and media studies are eligible to apply. The awards are administered by CFUS, and adjudication of the applications is made by the CFUS Awards Committee.

CFUS is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to securing funds and other resources that will promote the growth and development of Ukrainian studies in Canada in perpetuity. The work of CFUS is supported by the generosity of individuals through donations, bequests, and endowments.