On the Day of Ukrainian Literature and Language on November 9, thousands of people wrote an all-Ukrainian dictation of unity: a nice elegiac text about the autumn park, read very clearly and distinctly, albeit quickly, by its author Yuriy Andrukhovych.
In the reading hall of the V.I. Vernadsky National Library, people’s deputies, artists, diplomatic representatives, etc. tested their knowledge along with schoolchildren and students. We remember the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany Anka Feldhusen said in very good Ukrainian that the language really unites people and the country.
The Petro Yatsyk International Ukrainian Language Competition, started traditionally on this day as well.
UNCOMMON PATRON
Millions of Ukrainians know this name. After World War II, a young man from Prykarpattia decided not to risk to stay in Soviet territory; he arrived in Canada with seven dollars in his pocket, managed to get on his feet, asserted himself in the Canadian business world, earned respect and public recognition. But he always remembered Ukraine: he financially supported the Institute of Ukrainian Studies at Harvard University (USA), the Center for Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta (Canada), the Ukrainian Lecture Center at the School of Slavic Studies and Eastern European Studies at the University of London, publication of Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies…
In a conversation with a well-known Ukrainian writer, publicist and publisher, and then long-time executive director of the League of Ukrainian Patrons Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, Petro Yatsyk proposed to launch a competition for knowledge of Ukrainian language.
“Why spend so much time and energy complaining?” Mykhailo Slaboshpytskyi recalled Petro Yatsyk’s words in his book “A Ukrainian who refused to be poor”. “Let’s leave it to history at last… History will judge us by what we do or don’t do today.”
The competition started in 2000, and since then it has been held every year, attracting more and more participants, and borders are not an obstacle for it.
INTERNATIONAL, NOT ALL-UKRAINIAN
Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky once said that from the very beginning the competition was known as “All-Ukrainian”, but when he introduced the project to the then Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Academician Yaroslav Yatskiv, the latter corrected: “International”, and answered the amazed question: “And you strive to go higher – involve the diaspora”.
In the photo: Logo of the contest
The decision on the International Competition was signed by the then Minister of Education and Science Vasyl Kremen.
In the pre-coronavirus years, up to 30 flags of the countries whose citizens took part in the competition were hoisted on the stage of the Ivan Franko Ukrainian Drama Theater, where the final summing up usually took place.
Pavlo Hrytsenko, Director of the Institute of the Ukrainian Language of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Permanent Chairman of the Jury, Doctor of Philology, said at the opening of this year’s 22nd Petro Yatsyk International Competition that over 5 million people around the world were involved in the competition.
Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky was the main “propulsor and initiator”, a man who gave his soul and organizational talent to their holding. Therefore, assessing his contribution, Pavlo Hrytsenko said that it would be fair to mention the name of Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, who, unfortunately, passed away on May 30 this year, along with the name of Petro Yatsyk.
FOR A SECOND TIME ONLINE
For the second year in a row, because of the coronavirus, the International Competition is held online. The 21st competition, whose results were summed up in the spring, was held in the form of a distance marathon with the help of the educational company HUMAN. Time will tell us how this year’s events will unfold.
The official opening ceremony of the 22nd International Competition took place under enhanced quarantine in the Metropolitan Chambers of St. Sophia in Kyiv. The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Vira Rohova extended a greeting to the organizers and participants.
As in previous years, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, represented by Deputy Minister Hanna Malyar, actively participated in the competition. Lyceum students and cadets of military schools participate in competitions every year, and often win. For example, this is Karyna Karakay, a lyceum student at the Ivan Bohun Kyiv Lyceum, who addressed future contestants.
The winner of one of the previous competitions was the current scholarship holder of the President of Ukraine Andriana Bila.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Pavlo Hrytsenko, Director of the Ukrainian Language Institute, Oleksandr Ogorodniychuk, Patron of the Competition, General Director of PJSC “Eximed”, and Taras Kremin, Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language. They all welcomed the future participants and winners.
Writer Svitlana Koronenko, the current Executive Director of the “League of Ukrainian Patrons” International Charitable Foundation and the wife of blessed memory Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, who has worked at the Foundation in previous years, said that Darnytsia Pharmaceutical Company is the principal patron from the first competition to date, the Union of Ukrainian Women of Australia supports the competition for more than two decades, the patron is also the Ivan Bagriany Foundation (USA) and, certainly, the Petro Yatsyk Educational Foundation.
RETURN
Petro Yatsyk is not only a “Ukrainian who refused to be poor”, but also a Ukrainian who was fortunate enough to make others rich, especially spiritually. “It’s time for the world to learn about Ukraine’s past and present”, he said. “We need to elevate ourselves through science.”
Petro Yatsyk himself began to write a book about his life. He had time to write about a hundred pages. His daughter Nadiya Yatsyk asked John Lawrence Reynolds, winner of prestigious literary awards in Canada, to continue writing the book.
His book “Leaving Home: The Remarkable Life of Peter Jacyk” (Petro Yatsyk) was published in Vancouver. (The then Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, called it “an inspiring chronicle of philanthropy.”)
But Ms. Yatsyk understood that her father would like his book to be read in Ukraine. In the native language. So the family offered journalist and editor Mykhailo Soroka, who met with Petro Yatsyk more than once and wrote about him, to translate the book into Ukrainian, instead of a professional translator.
In 2018, the Institute of Philology of the Taras Shevchenko National University hosted a presentation of the Ukrainian translation of the book “Leaving Home. Extraordinary life of Petro Yatsyk”. The daughter of the prominent Ukrainian Nadiya and granddaughter Andriyka came from Canada for the presentation. Commenting positively on the book in Ukrainian, Nadiya Yatsyk said that with the publication “Leaving Home” Petro Yatsyk really returned home.
Larysa OSTROLUTSKA