diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/writers/stdout.py b/IPython/nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
index d91fcee..b816425 100644
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Contains Stdout writer
 # Imports
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+from IPython.utils import io
 from .base import WriterBase
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -30,5 +31,4 @@ class StdoutWriter(WriterBase):
 
         See base for more...
         """
-
-        print(output)
+        io.unicode_std_stream().write(output)
diff --git a/IPython/nbconvert/writers/tests/test_stdout.py b/IPython/nbconvert/writers/tests/test_stdout.py
index 4b9add0..58c4cea 100644
--- a/IPython/nbconvert/writers/tests/test_stdout.py
+++ b/IPython/nbconvert/writers/tests/test_stdout.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# coding: utf-8
 """
 Module with tests for stdout
 """
@@ -43,9 +44,11 @@ class TestStdout(TestsBase):
 
         # Create stdout writer, test output
         writer = StdoutWriter()
-        writer.write('a', {'b': 'c'})
+        writer.write(u'a×', {'b': 'c'})
         output = stream.getvalue()
-        self.fuzzy_compare(output, 'a')
+        if not PY3:
+            output = output.decode('utf-8')
+        self.fuzzy_compare(output, u'a×')
 
         # Revert stdout
         sys.stdout = stdout
\ No newline at end of file