Fit-23 ta’ Frar sar is-Seminar tat-Teżini, appuntament annwali tad-Dipartiment tal-Malti li għalih ikunu mistednin il-letturi u l-istudenti kollha tal-Baċellerat. Minħabba l-għadd kbir ta’ studenti li qed jistudjaw il-Malti l-Università u r-restrizzjonijiet marbutin mal-COVID, din is-sena kienu preżenti fis-sala l-istudenti tat-tieni u t-tielet sena filwaqt li tal-ewwel sena segwew b’mod virtwali.
Waqt is-seminar Deborah Muscat, Jean Paul Borg, Kirsty Bartolo, u Anthea Enriquez, erba’ studenti li gradwaw is-sena l-oħra, għamlu preżentazzjoni dwar it-teżijiet tagħhom.
Barra minn hekk, waqt dan is-seminar id-Dipartiment tal-Malti nieda l-Premju Oliver Friggieri għall-aħjar teżi fuq il-Letteratura Maltija u l-Premju Ġużè Aqulina għall-aħjar teżi fuq l-Ilsien Malti. L-ewwel studenti li ngħataw dawn il-premjijiet kienu Jean Paul Borg li ngħata l-Premju Oliver Friggieri għall-istudju tiegħu fuq it-tema tal-familja fil-poeżiji ta’ Antoine Cassar u Deborah Muscat li ngħatat il-Premju Ġużè Aquilina għall-istudju tagħha fuq il-funzjoni avverbjali ta’ forom aġġettivali.
Minbarra li jirrikonoxxu l-livell għoli ta’ xogħol il-gradwati, il-premjijiet għandhom l-għan li jfakkru lil żewġ persunaġġi li taw kontribut imprezzabbli fl-oqsma tagħhom u fetħu t-triq għaż-żewġ fergħat ewlenin tat-tagħlim u r-riċerka tad-Dipartiment.
It-trofej, li jikkonsistu minn forma ta’ tmun maqtugħa fl-azzar fuq bażi magħmula mill-ġebla tal-qawwi t’Għawdex, ġew iddisinjati u maħduma mill-artist Austin Camilleri. Dr Michael Spagnol, il-Kap tad-Dipartiment, ippreżenta ż-żewġ trofej lir-rebbieħa.
Kif qal Dr Immanuel Mifsud fi tmiem is-seminar, it-tmun bi kliem Oliver Friggieri (“iss’inti l-istaġun il-ġdid”) u Ġużè Aquilina (“l-imfietaħ tal-fantasija huma f’idejk”) maqtugħ minn naħa għal oħra tal-pjanċa, ifakkar li din il-kisba mhijiex biss it-tmiem ta’ vjaġġ, imma wkoll il-bidu ta’ vjaġġ ieħor.
_ _ _
Students Receive Awards Named After Ġużè Aquilina and Oliver Friggieri
At its annual Dissertation Seminar for undergraduates, the Department of Maltese has launched two new awards named after Ġużè Aquilina and Oliver Friggieri. During this first edition, Jean Paul Borg received the ‘Premju Oliver Friggieri’ for his B.A. dissertation on the representations of the family in Antoine Cassar’s prize-winning collection of poems Erbgħin Jum (Forty Days). Deborah Muscat was awarded ‘Premju Ġużè Aquilina’ for her study on the adverbial function of adjectival forms in Maltese.
The Dissertation Seminar was held on February 23, 2022, and brought together all Maltese undergraduate students within the Department of Maltese and the ten departmental full-time lecturers. Due to the COVID restrictions currently in place and the large number of students studying Maltese at the University, second and third-year students were present in the hall of the new Campus Hub, whilst first-year students followed the event via Zoom.
The Seminar featured dissertation presentations by the award winning graduates, Jean Paul Borg and Deborah Muscat, and by two other graduates, Kirsty Bartolo and Anthea Enriquez, whose research was also highly commended by the Department’s board of examiners. Apart from recognising the graduates’ high level of achievement, the prizes also celebrate the treasured contributions which Friggieri and Aquilina have made in their field-of-study, thereby laying the foundations for the Department’s main research areas.
The steel trophy, in the shape of a ship’s rudder, rests on on a base made out of Gozitan stone, and was designed and produced by artist Austin Camilleri. The two trophies were presented to the award winners by Dr Michael Spagnol, head of the Department of Maltese.
At the end of the seminar, Dr Immanuel Mifsud pointed out that the words of Oliver Friggieri and Ġużè Aquilina engraved in the rudder’s steel (“iss’inti l-istaġun il-ġdid” and “l-imfietaħ tal-fantasija huma f’idejk”) serve as a reminder that this achievement is not the end of the young researchers’ academic journey, but it is only the beginning.
