Patriarch Josyf Slipyj Heritage Studies Center holds 16th recitation contest honoring Lina Kostenko’s 95th birthday

To mark the 95th birthday of the renowned Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko, the recitation contest “The Winged Need No Ground” was held in Philadelphia on Saturday, March 22, 2025. The poetry competition, in which students in grades 9–12 of the Ukrainian Heritage School took part, was organized by the Patriarch Josyf Slipyj Heritage Studies Center of the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics in the USA. It was the sixteenth contest held at UHS on the Association’s initiative, and it coincided with National Poetry Reading Week. The jury named Yuliia Kurnitska (grade 12) the winner, Sofiia Huryn (grade 11-B) the runner-up, and Danylo Tokar (grade 10-A) the laureate. The sponsor, the Patriarch Josyf Slipyj Heritage Studies Center, provided prizes for the winners. Addressing the participants, Association President Iryna Ivankovych said: “Lina Kostenko’s words — ‘the winged need no ground’ — echo the thought of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj, who said: ‘Faith and knowledge are the two wings on which the human spirit rises into boundless space.’ Remember this especially in stormy times, when flight seems impossible. We were born to win.”