Modern Greek Section
The Catherine Grigoriou-Theocarakis Prize 2013
The 2013 Catherine Grigoriou-Theocarakis Prize for excellence in Modern Greek Studies has been awarded to Stefani Vekinis, of St John's College. Stefani read English for the first two years of her degree, and achieved a First in Part I of the English Tripos in 2012. For her third (and final year) she switched to the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos. She offered most of her papers in Modern Greek language, literature and culture, with one paper in Ukrainian. She was awarded a starred First (Distinction) in the Tripos. She intends to spend a year away from formal study to gain work experience, possibly through an internship with the European Commission or a not-for-profit organization, after which she plans to take a Master's degree in Gender Studies.
Stefani is the third recipient of the prize, which was established in 2009 by Dr Nikolaos Theocarakis in memory of his late wife Catherine Grigoriou-Theocarakis. It forms part of a generous benefaction of £100,000 made by Dr Theocarakis to the University in 2009, to support the advancement of Modern Greek Studies. Both Dr Theocarakis and his wife studied at Cambridge. Catherine, who died in 2009, was a member of Girton College. After studying French and Linguistics at Athens University, she came to Cambridge to take a postgraduate course in Strategic Studies, graduating with an MPhil in 1987. She was an exceptionally talented linguist and an accomplished poet in both Greek and English.
