And the winner 2004 is Biljana Meskovska


The Interview: Ivan Firic - one of the three best participants of the essay competition and the Jury in ACT, 27th May 2004	Biljana Meskovska - Borjan Tanevski Scholar 2004, presenting her essay at the International Student Conference in Skopje

The essay “Does the European Union offer a prospect for lasting peace in South-East Europe?” by Biljana Meskovska is the winning entry in the 2004 Borjan Tanevski Memorial Scholarship essay competition of the American College of Thessaloniki (ACT).

Borjan Tanevski graduated from the American College of Thessaloniki in 2002, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer soon after and passed away on the 22nd of March 2003. Borjan was the model of a student of our college, so a group of ACT faculty together with the Tanevski family started the initiative for a Fund in Borjan’s memory, to provide scholarships at ACT and to support his ideas of peace and cooperation in South-East Europe.

For the purpose of the award of the annual scholarship, an academic jury was formed with the chairs of the ACT departments of “History & International Relations” (Dr. Wisner), “Philosophy & Social Sciences” (Dr. Müller) and “Business” (Dr. Tsanacas), one senior academic from the FYR of Macedonia (Professor Dr. Mirjana Maleska, SS. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje) and one senior academic from a state university in Thessaloniki (Dr. Nikos Zaikos, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki).

The jury set a title for the essays as well as some general regulations and students were given one month to write. The essays submitted were anonymized (with a number) and the jury voted on the three best essays, the authors of which were invited for an interview with the jury on May 27th, 2004. Interviews were conducted with each of the three candidates to ensure their general critical ability and to inquire about problematic issues raised in their papers. The jury voted that Biljana Meskovska wrote the best essay and was named "Borjan Tanevski Memorial Scholar 2004".

All three best candidates were invited to present their essays at an international student conference on June 11/12th 2004 in Skopje, organized by the "Borjan Tanevski Memorial Fund" with the kind support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The Borjan Tanevski Memorial Scholarship was officially awarded to its first winner, Biljana Meskovska, at the 2004 ACT Commencement Ceremony (and presented by one of the Members of Parliament present).

Biljana had been accepted to study for a postgraduate degree in International Politics at Johns Hopkins University (arguably the best place in the world for the subject) and, subsequently to being named Tanevski Scholar, she was also awarded a full scholarship by Johns Hopkins for two years.

Note of the Jury