Journalist Katryna Shchotkina becomes first laureate of Blessed Karol Wojtyla Prize

The laureate is the famous Ukrainian journalist Kateryna Shchotkina (Pano), who until recently was the editor for the Church section of the daily Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.

The prize was established by the editorial staff of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU). During the press conference, RISU director Taras Antoshevskyy said that this award is symbolic because RISU was founded 10 years ago during the pope’s visit to Ukraine. Having worked for 10 years in religious journalism, RISU believed it necessary to recognize the best Ukrainian journalists with this award.

For Kateryna Shchotkina, the Blessed Karol Wojtyla Prize was her first award for her journalistic activity. “I engaged in journalism in the area that my publication assigned,” said the laureate.

The laureate received a free pilgrimage trip to the Vatican and Rome, as well as Krakow, Czechostowa, and other places in Poland and Italy related to the pope’s life and ministry. The award was given by Andrii Delisandru, head of the Rafail Pilgrimage and Retreat Center of the Studite Monastery of the UGCC.

Fifteen out of some 80 nominees made it to the final stage, where they were voted on by 16 jurors. There was a three-way tie for second place: Artem Skoropadskyi, correspondent from Kommersant-Ukrayina, Omelian Oshchudliak (chanel 1+1), and Anatolii Babynskyi (magazine Patriarchate, Zaxid.net).

As reported earlier by RISU, the prize is annual and nondenominational. Symbolically, this year the prize was won by an Orthodox nominee.

On behalf of the entire jury, a journalism professor from Ivan Franko University described on what bases they chose the winner. The procedure was made up of two stages:

- voting on RISU’s website, which took place from May 3 to June 10 (close to 30 people were nominated for the prize),

- voting by the jury (16 distinguished experts in journalism and religion) for the three best of the 14 nominees, chosen on the basis of public voting, and also nomintated by members of the jury. The laureate of the Blessed Karol Wojtyla Prize is the nominee that receives the overall largest number of votes.

Additional voting was done on Facebook, which nominated about 80 contenders.

Kateryna Pano, better known in the journalism field as Shchotkina (maiden name). Born in Kyiv. Completed education in musical education and obtained a masters in culturology at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

For almost 15 years she worked as a journalist for Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. In addition to articles on religious topics, she wrote about culture and technology. She cooperated with various publications – both local and international.

A few months ago she left Dzerkalo Tyzhnia to devote time to her creative undertakings.

She worked on creating the third audiobook of the former head of the UGCC Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar) called “The Path to God.” She is also the author of several children’s books and literature publications.

She is married and has two sons.

The jury was made up of the following people:

Larysa Ivshyna – editor in chief of newspaper Day.

Svitlana Zhabiuk – editor in chief of Zaxid.net.

Vakhtanh Kipiani – editor in chief of website Historical Truth.

Dmytro Krykun – journalist, media expert and media manager, consultant in communications.

Yurii Chornomorets – editor in chief of Theology Portal.

Andrii Yurash – expert, journalism professor at Ivan Franko University.

Father Andrii Dudchenko – UOC-MP priest, publicist, blogger, editor of many church projects.

Father Mykola Myshovskyi – ROC priest, editor in chief of the Catholic journal CREDO.

Alla Boiko – professor at the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko Univeristy in Kyiv, author of manual in religious journalism.

Viktor Yelenskyi – president of the Ukrainian Association for Religious Freedom.

Mykhailo Cherenkov – doctor in philosophy, vice president of the fund Spiritual Revival.

Maksym Vasin – executive director of the Institute for Religious Freedom.

Ihor Sklenar – journalism professor at the Ivan Franko University.

Ruslan Kuxharchuk – president of the association Novomedia.

Olena Kulyhina – editor for the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.

Mykhailo Yakubovych – historian, expert in Eastern studies, author of the first complete translation of the Koran in Ukrainian.