This program of an organized annual competition among undergraduate students and graduate students who have submitted the best essay dealing with some aspect of Czech and/or Slovak culture was initiated in 1987 by Professor Vera Borkovec, who was at that time SVU Vice President for Student Affairs (this action was reported by President Jiri Nehnevajsa in the January-February 1988 issue of Zpravy). The idea was to promote interest in things Czech and Slovak among college students and thereby attract the younger generation to join our ranks.
These were the conditions of the contest: the essay had to be written as a term paper for a specific university course taken during the academic year. It was to be submitted by the student’s professor with his/her recommendation. The reward was a check for $200, a year’s membership in the Society and a subscription to one of the Society’s journals.
The original committee judging the submitted papers consisted of Prof. Vera Borkovec (American University), Chair; and Profs. Josef Anderle (University of North Carolina), and Jan Triska (Stanford University). Prof. Ivo Feierabend (San Diego State University) later replaced Prof. Jan Triska.
Winners of the SVU Student Awards:
- 1988: Derek Paton (University of London)
“Parallels in Time: Independent Activity in Czechoslovakia as and Expression of Czechoslovak Political Culture” - 1988: Jarmila Charfreitagova (University of Munich)
“Czechoslovak Exile Press in Western Europe Since 1948” - 1990: Barry J. Hurewitz (Duke University)
“Czechoslovakia : An Evaluation After the 1989 Revolution” - 1991: Petr Polak (University of Ostrava)
“In the name of Socialism and the Working Class: Political Trials in Czechoslovakia in the Years 1948-1953” - 1991: Karel Buö (Charles University, Prague)
“Czech Nationalism” - 1992: Kevin Hannan (University of Texas)
“Moravian Nationalism in the Nineteenth Century” - 1992: Jindřich Jůzl (Charles University, Prague)
“When This Night Passes….A Portrait of the Poet Rudolf Tesnohlidek” - 1993: Pavel Jerabek (University of Zürich)
“Der Transformationsprozess der tschechoslowakischen Volkswirtschaft 1990-1992” - 1994: Jon P. Youngs
“The Post-Communist Czech Republic: Out of the Wilderness” - 1995: David Korfhage (Princeton University)
“The Uses of (In)Authenticity: Rukopis Kralovedvorsky and Rukopis Zelenohorsky as political, cultural and national symbols” - 1996: Jonathan Bolton (University of Texas)
“The Hilsner Affair: A Study of the Workings of a Tenacious and Despicable Superstition, as well as of a Valiant but Failed Attempt to Defeat It in Turn-of- the Century Bohemia” - 1997: Bruce B. Berglund (University of Kansas)
“Lidice and the Czechoslovak Exiles in Britain” - 1998: Charles Sabatos (University of Michigan)
“The Glory of Exile: T. G. Masaryk in America” - 2000: Petra Ticha (American University)
“Westernization in the Czech Republic: Blessing or Stepchild of Democracy?” - 2001: Daniel Neval (University of Zürich)
“Edvard Benes: der Erbe des Praesidenten und Befreiers” - 2002: Leah Markowitz (George Washington University)
“Unity Through Pluralism: Contemporary Czech-Jewish Identity” - 2003: Dana Copithorne (University of British Columbia)
“Disordered Borders and Border Crossings: Articulations of the ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ Worlds in Twentieth Century Czech Literature” - 2006: Kevin Grieves (Indiana University)
“An Uncertain Image: U.S. Television Coverage of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia” - 2007: Heidi Bludau (Indiana University)
“The Good Dissident Švejk: An Exploration of Czech Morality and Cultural Survival” - 2007: Thomas Hauner (University of Chicago)
“Švejk vs Cimrman: A Comparison in Satire” - 2008: Susana Hancock (University of Tromso, Norway)
“An Analysis of Aspectual Coercion in do-Prefixed Czech Verbs” more - 2008: Kathryn Wallace (University of California at Berkeley)
“Rock ‚n‘ Revolution: Rock Music and Czech Politics in the 1960s-1970s” more - 2009: Ryan P. Kilgore (Indiana University)
“Avtorskaia Pesnia Through the Lens of Mukařovský’s Structural Aesthetics” - 2009: Jerrie Ceplina (University of Wisconsin)
“Václav Havel’s Presidential Speeches as Hybrid: Reconciling Havel the Dissident
and Havel the Politician” - 2010: Olga Bueva (Indiana University)
“The Joke by Milan Kundera: Ideologies of Disembodiment”
The present committee evaluating the submitted entries consists of Prof. Vera Borkovec (American University), Chair and members Prof. Ivo Feierabend (San Diego State University) and Prof. Milan Hauner (University of Wisconsin).
The award now bears the name of the Dr. Joseph Hasek Student Award. The winners (one undergraduate and one graduate student are eligible) receive a check for $250, a Certificate of Merit, honorable mention in the newsletter Zpravy and a year’s membership in the Society.
