Time does fly when you’re with your favorite people.

Once again, the AAU community was back on deck to celebrate the excellency and dedication of staff, faculty, and students at the AAU Annual Awards Ceremony 2018.

This year, AAU has changed the nomination and voting process a little bit. Only the faculty can vote for the “Student of the Year” of their school and vice versa. That means, for example, teachers from School of Business Administration voted for the Business Student of the Year”. Meanwhile, the Business students voted for the Business Teacher of the Year”. In other words, teachers vote for students; students vote for teachers. This was meant to make the Awards more fair and meaningful.

Also, just to clarify, there are two similar awards of “Staff Member of the Year” and “Most Helpful Staff Member”: The former is voted by staff, the latter by faculty and students. Another thing to notice is while the AAU community, which is everyone, can nominate people for the “Endurance Award” and the “Unsung Hero”, the winners are chosen by the Student Council. For more information about the nomination and voting process as well as the full list the nominees, click here.

Below is the list of the AAU Awards winners 2018 with some of the most insightful comments from the voters. Congratulations to the winners, you all deserve it!   


Staff Member of the Year (voted by staff): Clea Boban

Clea is an outstandingly capable woman. Many people know her as a responsible Facilities Specialist, but not everyone knows that she’s also a student. Clea is a full time MA student, majoring in International Relations and Diplomacy, and she balances her work and study extremely well. Her professionalism, help in representing student interests, and positive attitude makes her well-deserved for the award of “Staff Member of the Year”!

“This girl gave me the biggest and warmest “welcome” when I started my job at AAU. She is not only kind, but also very clear and positive in her approach. She showed me what the AAU community is all about.”  – anonymous


Outstanding Scholar Award (voted by faculty); Student of the Year, School of Journalism (voted by the Journalism faculty); Distinguished Artist Award (voted by everyone); Distinguished Leadership Award (for student, voted by everyone): Chau Nguyen

Dedicated and extremely hard working, Chau took on leadership of the Lennon Wall at a pretty tough time and has done a lot of work to pump out as many issues as possible and promote the school’s magazine. She is a real leader while caring about members and the friends around her. Chau is also a part of the AAU Marketing department and helps improve the communication on campus by writing articles and designing promotional materials.


Student of the Year, School of Law (voted by the Law faculty): Monika Samešová

Monika is in her final year of the LLB program and has been an exceptional student throughout her studies. Her engagement in challenging and prestigious extracurricular activities make her well-rounded.


Teacher of the Year, School of Law (voted by Law students): Carollann Braum,

Being both an administrator and a lecturer, Carollann is extremely good at stimulating class discussion. She is creative herself but well structured, allowing interesting topic materials in-class. Her courses far exceed expectations. Since February, Carollann has taken the temporary role of Director for the AAU Legal Institute, allowing Law students to gain real world experience.

“Even when discussing controversial issues, Carollann remains absolutely without bias in spurring on the debate, providing arguments for both sides and seeming genuinely possibly persuaded by each. It’s always a mystery where she stands on an issue, which is the point of the class.” – anonymous


Student of the Year, School of Business Administration (voted by the Business faculty): Justine Tom

Justine is a highly engaged and motivated student, with a strong work ethic and attention to detail to everything she does, as well as the ability to “see the big picture”. It is precisely these skills, that will allow her to be a standout success in her new position as a junior marketing manager at Copenhagen based startup, Simple Feast.


Two Teachers of the Year, School of Business Administration (voted by Business students): Mark Wiedorn and Jonathan Holmes

Mark Wiedorn

Mark Wiedorn: As a lecturer and thesis advisor, Mark Wiedorn demands and expects excellent work of his students, and as a result, cares deeply about their progress and success. He contributed a lot of his mentality to the thesis defense and process of writing, which has shaped many students for professional careers.

Jonathan Holmes: Jonathan is extremely knowledgeable about his field of study. He’s a great teacher with lots of personality in class.


Teacher of the Year, School of Journalism: Kateřina Vanová (voted by Journalism students)

Besides managing the daily operations of humanities and journalism schools and advising students, Kateřina teaches European Music History & Appreciation and Intro to Psychology. Kateřina is very creative provides a fun environment to learn in. She teaching style is helpful towards students to excel in writing, which makes learning even more interesting.


Student of the Year, School of Humanities: Markéta Hrehorová (voted by the Humanities faculty)

Markéta manage to maintain her perfect GPA which earns her the school’s merit-based scholarship of 100%, while running her own business of Just Cards. She has shown a great passion for art and writing.

“Markéta wrote very thoughtful and well-structured articles for the Lennon Wall. I’m impressed every time I get to read her works!” – anonymous


Teacher of the Year, School of Humanities: Filip Vostal (voted by Humanities students)

Filip is engaged, inspiring, and intelligent. He is down to earth and has a very clear grasp of what he is talking about which makes the information much more graspable as opposed to seeming too abstract. He is grounded in his beliefs but not overbearing, he emphasises the call to solutions instead of just bringing up the problems, which is what a humanities professor should be striving for. He is exemplary and truly inspires students into engaging with some of the most prominent issues society faces.  


Student of the Year, School of International Relations: Knut Marius Uddu Skjerve (voted by the International Relations faculty)

Knut’s great knowledge of politics and international relations help him excel in and outside of the classroom. As the president of the Model United Nations Club, he and his team organized a variety of events, especially a workshop at the PORGMUN conference. Last November, Knut won an award at the MuniMUN conference in Brno; this year his team participated in the Krakow MUN, learned a lot and attained great achievements.


Teacher of the Year, School of International Relations: George Hays II. (voted by the International Relations students)

Not only chairing the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, George also teaches the most structured and well-tailored classes. He also dedicates his knowledge outside of the classroom at events. The most successful and popular example is the series of Professors in the Pub that touches upon some of the most heated debate about political and social issues in the current world.

“Mr. Hays is a great teacher. He’s extremely knowledgeable in his field and always available for help.” – anonymous


AAU Awards – Best Course of 2017/18: Nations and Nationalism – Gaëlle Vassogne (voted by all students)

Gaëlle made the course Nations and Nationalism engaging and insightful. She is always willing to help and I learned a lot about history. She is real professional at her field with interacting teaching methods.


Most Helpful Staff Member: Jozef Bartík (voted by students and faculty)

If there’s one staff member that students interact with the most, it’s Jozef, our Student Services Registration Specialist. He provides all kinds of administrative support to AAU students in terms of issuing study confirmations and transcripts, registering for classes, add/drop, withdraw, and so on. This is the second year in a row that Jozef has won the award of “Most Helpful Staff Member”!

“Jozef is professional and helpful. He’s super swiftly at doing his job, whether it’s registering students for their classes or handling their visa complications.” – anonymous


Distinguished Leadership Award (Faculty and Administrators): Sviatlana Skachykhina (voted by all staff and faculty)

Sviatlana is always willing to go above and beyond! Helpful to all business students, she can solve any problem and offer advice for the best decision. Her caring attitude allows her to be cheerful, helpful, well organised and very hardworking.


Club of the Year: Diplomatic Club (voted by everyone)

The Diplomatic Club was very proactive this year, hosted many events, most impressively a panel discussion with Radio Liberty and another with the cultural organization Refufest. Students from all faculties are welcome to participate in their events. The two presidents, Veronika and Sofia, have dedicated an impressive amount of work into making this club an active club, arranging events and increasing the general knowledge of international politics amongst the students.


Most Engaged Administrator: Daniela Lenčéš Chalániová (voted by everyone)

Daniela is a cool Dean. She is very active on social media, encouraging students to participate in school events and activities, specifically Professors in the Pub!

“She’s the best Dean ever! Daniela rules!” – anonymous


Most Improved Student: Dastan Saparov (nominated by the faculty, chosen based on GPA)

Dastan is constantly engaging and has considerably been better in all his assignments during this past year.


Endurance Award: Nela Ewa Tomczyk (voted by the Student Council)

Pregnancy is not easy, especially when you’re about to give birth but still have to run a business, balance a few other side jobs and maintain a 4.0 GPA. But nothing is impossible to Nel. She’s now a new mom and we wish her and her family all the best. Congratulations Nel, you are a real-life Wonder Woman!  

“Being 7 months pregnant and having to study the intricacies of geopolitical theory is a heroic act!” – anonymous


Unsung Hero: Daniel Andrews (voted by the Student Council)

Daniel has dedicated a lot of time and effort into the new “Urban Gardening and Sustainability Club” which is not only an important project, but provides the community and environment a great service.


Once again, congratulations to all the winners!

We hope you all had a wonderful evening out on the Atlantida, enjoying the magical view while savoring good food.

Big shout-out to the organizers, especially the Student Services Manager Iveta Moravkova and the Student Council. 

Chau was the Editor-in-Chief of Lennon Wall magazine from July 2017 to June 2018. During her term, she gave editorial directions, oversees the operation and set policies. She was also responsible for the final products of the magazine.