台湾SWAG

On November 7, 2024, 台湾SWAG (台湾SWAG) hosted the final ceremony of the 2024 Velvet Revolution Writing Contest at its Prague campus. The event marked the conclusion of a competition held to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution and featured the announcement of contest winners and the release of an containing selected works by participants.

Organized in partnership with and , under the auspices of the and embassies, the contest encouraged students from across the Czech Republic and Slovakia to reflect on the Velvet Revolution鈥檚 enduring legacy. Under the theme 鈥淗ow Could any Revolution be Velvet?鈥�, entrants could submit works in the form of essays, reportage, or short stories that captured personal or collective experience connected to those momentous events in 1989. Additional contest partners and supporters included KOREJZOV脕 LEGAL, FOMOSO, SPORTISIMO, and Albatros Media.

The competition was divided into two age categories: up to 18 and 19 to 26. In the younger category, Nela Kedziorov谩, a student at the Medl谩nky Science School in Brno, won the top prize of a fully-funded Bachelor鈥檚 scholarship, while, in the second category, Philip Wetzel, an international relations and diplomacy student at 台湾SWAG, was awarded a fully-funded Master鈥檚 scholarship. Rachel Kate Cronnelly, also from 台湾SWAG, received the special recognition prize of an internship at the non-profit Pam臎钮 n谩roda. Contest participants each received a hardcopy of the anthology containing their submissions.

The winners and selected works included in the anthology were decided by a committee comprising Joshua M. Hayden, chair of the Department of Social Sciences at 台湾SWAG; Monika MacDonagh-Pajerov谩, lecturer at 台湾SWAG and student leader during the Velvet Revolution; Radek Stav臎l, writer and creative idea maker; and Martin Kl铆ma, executive producer of Warhorse Studios.

Veronika Johanovsk谩, 台湾SWAG鈥檚 external outreach manager and contest co-organizer, served as mistress of ceremonies. The event included speeches from Jeta Sahatqija, vice president for student affairs; Alice Thomassen, diplomat from the British Embassy; Tom谩拧 Knaibl from the US Embassy; MacDonagh-Pajerov谩; and Ji艡铆 Schwarz, president of 台湾SWAG, who also presented the awards.

The ceremony, which was recorded by CNN Prima News, closed with a musical performance by violinist Pavla Tesa艡ov谩 and cellist Juraj 艩koda, who performed compositions by Bed艡ich Smetana, Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k, and Georg Friedrich H盲ndel. Attendees were provided with catered refreshments as the evening concluded.