PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
18 October 2005
PRESENTATION OF 2005 ARCHBISHOP’S WRITING AWARD HONOURING 1600TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARMENIAN ALPHABET
Sydney, Australia – Saturday, 8 October, 2005 on the Feast of the
Holy Translators, His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian, Primate
of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand
presided over the Award Ceremony of the Inaugural 2005 Archbishop’s
Writing Award that was launched in this special 1600th anniversary year
marking the discovery of the Armenian Alphabet by St Mesrob Mashdotz.
The Writing Award was established to stimulate thought and
consciousness in Armenian youth about the relevance of maintaining the
values and faith of Armenian heritage in communities of the Diaspora
in the 21st Century.
Submissions to the competition were received from students in Years 5
to 11 from schools in Sydney and Melbourne including AGBU Alexander
Primary School, St Gregory’s Armenian School, Toumanian Saturday
School, Aginian Saturday School (Melbourne), Armenian HSC Class
as well as two independent entries. The topic for the prose was
“The Armenian Alphabet is important for the Armenian identity”.
Students were given the option of presenting their submissions in
different writing styles and in either Armenian or English. 80%
of written essays were in Armenian.
Parents and students gathered in the Edgarian Hall on the Feast Day
in eager anticipation for the announcement of the award recipients.
However, it was clear from the high-spirited gathering that all
students who participated in the competition were the winners of the
day for the time and effort spent researching the topic will continue
to have long-lasting impact on their understanding and value of the
Armenian Alphabet as a founding block to preserve the Armenian legacy.
His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian presented each and every
student with a special award certificate and a gift that would
be symbolic of their participation and their cultural identity.
The Primate gifted each student a wooden Armenian cross that he brought
back from the Holy Land just one week earlier. The keystone of the
Armenian Alphabet, the motivation and driving force to establish it,
lay in the Holy Cross to ensure the first Christian nation would have
a written language that would propagate the Great Commission of Jesus
to spread the Word of God and lead them to faith.
Awards and prizes were presented in three categories and recipients
of prizes were as follows: Junior Category – Sergei Krjatian (St
Gregory’s Armenian School), runner-up Lenia Kelleyan (St Gregory’s
Armenian School); Middle Category – Natalie Mengolian (Aginian
Saturday School), equal runners-up Rhaya Ratevossian (Toumanian
Saturday School) and Zaven Fenerci (Aginian Saturday School); Senior
Category – Maya Aghajanian (Aginian Saturday School), runner-up Talar
Ohanessian (Armenian HSC). A special award was also presented to Nayiri
Derartinian from St Gregory’s Armenian School for outstanding thought.
On Sunday, 16 October the Primate visited the Armenian Community of
Melbourne and presented awards to students of the Aginian School.
Students and parents were thrilled at having the Archbishop present
to personally award their certificates and prizes. His Eminence
took the opportunity to reflect on the occasion inscribing the deep
value of Armenian heritage in the hearts and minds of the students.
Befittingly, on Saturday, the school celebrated the 20th anniversary
of the completion and inauguration of its school building and dedicated
its celebration to the 1600th Anniversary of the Armenian Alphabet.