The program of the assembly of the Association of Writers of Serbia held in the Serbian Army House in Belgrade included presenting the traditional recognitions of this important institution, one of which was awarded to prof. Srđan Mijalković, founder of the SECS Prosvjeta Committee Vienna.

Mijalković, who is the vice-president of Viennese Prosvjeta, was ceremoniously presented with a special recognition, a plaque with the image of Simo Matavulj, an author and first AWS president.

He was awarded this high recognition for fostering the Serbian language and literature, for many years of cooperation and contribution to the Society.

Mijalković is the founder and manager of Prosvjeta’s Serbian supplementary schools in Austria, the first, decade-long president of Prosvjeta Austria and the initiator and organizer of many important programs and projects that affirm the Serbian language and literature in the motherland and the diaspora.

– I am grateful for this valuable award because it shows that long-term and dedicated work is appreciated and seen, including the work of us from the diaspora. We all belong to one unique, Serbian, cultural and spiritual space that is not defined by current borders but by our shared culture, spirituality and our language. It is up to us to nurture it. Children from the diaspora who started the first Prosvjeta schools ten years ago and for whom it was the only opportunity to learn their own, Serbian language, have now grown up and know their language and alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet, and some of them already write poetry and prose, discovering the joy of literary creation – says Mijalković.

He proudly points out that today there are more than a thousand students in about thirty Prosvjeta schools.

Source and photo: Vesti online