Recently, the honorary awards ceremony took place in the city of Katowice (Republic of Poland). It was the awarding of the high title “Ambassador Polszczyzny”. Among the several nominations was also the “Ambasador Polszczyzny poza Granicami Kraju”. For the first time in the history of its existence, this year’s prestigious award was won by a foreign institution: the Department of Polish Philology of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (for the development and popularization of the Polish language in Ukraine), which was presented at the celebrations in Katowice by well-known linguist and polonist Alla Kravchuk. The diploma, which certifies the award and the distinction (a figurine), will now add to the list of significant achievements of teachers of the Polish language and literature of Lviv University.
“This award is very honorable, it was awarded to our Department by the Senate of the Republic of Poland at the request of the highest linguistic authority in the country: the Council of Polish Language at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences”, said Alla Kravchuk, the Head of the Polish Philology Department of Lviv University. “The award, of course, testifies to the recognition of the scientific and didactic achievements of Lviv polonistics, while at the same time it puts great responsibility on us – to work no less inspirational. However, the event itself was obscured by death (literally, in the minute when the ceremony was about to start) of the well-known Polish linguist, Professor, Honorary Chairman of the Polish Council Valeriy Pisarek. Therefore, the scenario was changed”.
In addition to the foreign nomination, the other four concerned the awarding of the Poles: prominent masters of the word. It is a very prestigious award; it is worth mentioning that in previous years it was awarded to famous writers: Tadeusz Konwicki, Tadeusz Ruzhevic, Olha Tokarchuk, and among the actors, for example, to Anna Dymna.
It is important to note that the Department of Polish Philology of Lviv University has significant scientific and didactic achievements. It not only cares about the development of polonistics at the University among student youth, but also has an impact on the popularization of polonistic science throughout the country. In recent years, many university textbooks have been published, which are made use of by polonists in Ukraine and even abroad. The Department periodically organizes conferences, courses, seminars for polonists from different regions of our country.
“Our students are frequent winners of the annual All-Ukrainian competition on Polish spelling in Ivano-Frankivsk, and when they are participants of international schools of Polish language in Poland, they also always receive prize-winning places for writing dictation”, said Alla Kravchuk summarizing the results of the important event. “In addition, our graduates and students successfully pass levels С1, С2 for the certificate on the Polish language. The good linguistic and scientific training of our students testify to their victories in the most prestigious contests, including scientific ones”.