RIT Croatia announces the winners of this year’s Hospitality Star Search scholarship contest

The annual Hospitality Star Search contest for valuable scholarships awarded by Adriatic Luxury Hotels and RIT Croatia was held in April, with over 50 applications from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Austria.

After the first round of interviews with admission specialists, ten finalists were chosen. Finalists competed live at the Dubrovnik campus where they first took part in a workshop on the topic “Creative Intelligence and Persistence” delivered by Dr. Vanda Bazdan, faculty member at RIT Croatia. The workshop yielded results about finalists’ divergent thinking and persistence. Following this workshop, the finalists were divided in teams and each team got a certain product with the aim to make a short product launch in front of the judges, Mr. David Taylor, CEO of Adriatic Luxury Hotels, Dr. Besim Agušaj and Mr. Kevin Walker, faculty members at RIT Croatia’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program. Finalists were graded on team work and presentation skills. Finally, they all had individual, in-depth interviews with the judges where they all got the chance to present themselves to the best of their ability. Besides taking part in the competition, finalists had the opportunity to experience Dubrovnik fist hand and to spend some time with RIT Croatia students.

After careful consideration from our judges, we are proud to announce this year’s winners:

• 1^st prize - full scholarship in the amount of 27,000 EUR sponsored by Adriatic Luxury Hotels – awarded to Domenica Vukić from Mlini, Croatia
• 2^nd prize – scholarship in the amount of 20,000 EUR – awarded to Lukrecija Novaković from Čilipi, Croatia
• 3^rd prize – scholarship in the amount of 16,000 EUR – awarded to Marin Grabovac from Salzburg, Austria
• 4^th prize – scholarship in the amount of 12,000 EUR – awarded to Marta Ožegović from Luka, Croatia
• 5^th prize – scholarship in the amount of 8,000 EUR – awarded to Elena Jaušić from Bjelovar, Croatia

“I am beyond thankful for this experience, not just because I managed to win, but for the people I’ve met along the way. Everybody on RIT Croatia’s team is beyond kind, and all finalists were extremely friendly and supportive of one another. RIT Croatia is making education seem like a joyful experience rather than a tedious chore; with all that said, I can’t wait to start my education there in September!”, commented Domenica Vukić, the winner of the 1^st prize.

When asked about his impression of the competition, Mr. David Taylor, CEO of Adriatic Luxury Hotels stated: “This was a very interesting contest for us to be part of, as we want to take the opportunity to help the next generation become the bright prospects that the industry needs and deserves in the future.  I was very happy to meet and spend time with the final group of 10 candidates. Each candidate was well prepared and demonstrated extraordinary maturity and clarity of thinking across a broad range of skills. This made the final decision making very difficult as every candidate on the day represented themselves with great professionalism. At the end of this process, we are delighted with the decision we have made”.

The final round of this year’s competition was fearless and competitive, which makes the results of the winners even more noteworthy. Congratulations to all winners, as well as to all participants, for their hard work and perseverance!