Student participants in DRI’s national essay writing competition were invited to Kyiv for two days of training on effective writing to influence the country’s democratic reforms. Entrants from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, and Ostroh learned how to improve their analytical and writing skills to engage lay and expert audiences – skills seldom taught at higher education institutes.
Leading experts provided training on range of writing skills, from drafting specialist legal texts such as constitutional amendments to writing articles and blogs.
Journalist Roman Kulchitsky shared his insights on writing for the media; think tank Researcher Leonid Litra focused on analytical briefs and policy papers; legal specialist Andriy Kozlov presented how to draft legal documents, and co-founder of the StopFake project Olha Yurkova gave advice on citing reliable sources.
On the second day, the students were given practical exercises to test their new skills. Best essay was awarded to Vasyl Kuftiak from Uzhgorod, who argued how giving lawyers a monopoly on legal representation would transform courtroom justice. His article was published in the legal newspaper Yurydychna Hazeta. Download the English translation of his essay below.
The runners up were Kostiantyn Denysov (Zaporizhia), Ivanna Kashchyshyn (Mariupol), Valentyna Solovyova (Irpin), Yuriy Batan (Odesa) and Svitlana Semenova (Kyiv).
