Why we built this

In 2023, Olena Shevchenko and Viktor Kovalenko were reviewing applications for junior reporter positions. They noticed a pattern—candidates had certificates from multiple writing courses but struggled with basic tasks like structuring a news brief or interviewing sources without leading questions. Most courses taught generic communication principles instead of practical journalism fundamentals. The gap between what courses promised and what newsrooms needed was too wide to ignore.

Both founders had spent years training new reporters in their respective newsrooms, developing techniques that worked for people with no journalism background. They realized these methods—breaking down story structure into concrete steps, practicing actual editorial feedback loops, learning to identify news value in everyday situations—weren't being taught systematically anywhere. So they decided to build it themselves, starting with a small pilot program in Rivne that focused entirely on skills they'd personally used to train dozens of working journalists.

The response showed them they were onto something. Students weren't just completing assignments—they were getting pieces published in local outlets within weeks of starting the course. By mid-2024, they'd expanded beyond Rivne, refining the curriculum based on which exercises actually improved student work and which ones looked good on paper but didn't translate to better writing. The focus stayed narrow: teach the specific skills that separate publishable work from beginner drafts.

Today, Harl Vokas operates throughout Ukraine, but the approach hasn't changed much from those first Rivne sessions. Courses still prioritize hands-on practice over theory. Feedback still comes from people who've actually worked in newsrooms. The curriculum still gets updated based on what students struggle with most and what techniques produce measurable improvement in their writing. We're not trying to turn everyone into investigative reporters—just help people who want to write clearly and effectively for public audiences develop the skills that actually matter for that work.