The Sixteenth Annual Graduate Student Essay Prize 2024 is awarded to Miruna Chirila, MA in Russian and Post-Soviet Politics at University College London, for her essay, “Identities in Romania Post-Same Sex Marriage Ban Referendum: Negotiating Queerness.” The panel praised the essay as a well-written and fascinating exploration of the impact of the 2018 same-sex marriage referendum on both discourses of queerness and self-representation among individuals in Moldavia. In her well-argued approach, Chirila focuses on individual queer voices and their acts of resistance and non-compliance in the face of the conservative mobilization of the Orthodox Church and political parties that, in turn, prompted a more assertive embrace of queer and trans identities.
Valentina Glajar
Petru Negură
Delia Popescu