Konowal Prize is instituted (09/15/96)

Konowal Prize is instituted

KINGSTON, Ontario - Canada's minister of national defense, David M. Collenette, announced the establishment of an annual Konowal Prize, named to honor World War I Victoria Cross recipient Filip Konowal.

The announcement was made on August 21 in Toronto, where Minister Collenette delivered an address at the unveiling of a trilingual plaque honoring Mr. Konowal at Branch 360 of The Royal Canadian Legion.

In August 1917, Mr. Konowal, a Ukrainian-born immigrant, distinguished himself during the Battle for Hill 70, near Lens, France. On August 21, the 69th anniversary of that date, members of Branch 360 of The Royal Canadian Legion, celebrating their own 50th anniversary, confirmed that $25,000 will be made available annually to support Ukrainian officer cadets attending Canada's only military university, the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, or to help finance graduate-level research and writing at any Canadian university in the areas of Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian military history. It is anticipated that the first award will be made in the fall of 1997.

Speaking on the occasion of the unveiling of a second trilingual historical plaque honoring Mr. Konowal, the minister of national defense observed, "I am very pleased to announce that we soon hope to have in place the Konowal Prize. This will be an annual scholarship for one or two Ukrainian military college students to come to Canada for a year to study Canada, the Canadian system of government, and the relationship between the military and civilian authorities ... at a military college in Canada. We anticipate the program will start in the fall of 1997. This branch is very generously contributing towards the scholarship. This Konowal Prize will make sure that Mr. Konowal's legacy is well remembered and honored. You can take great pride in this initiative."