Recognition in One’s Lifetime

On March 9 the National Opera of Ukraine hosted a soirОe marking the 191st anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s birth. The Taras Shevchenko Prize has been awarded on these anniversaries for the past four years. This year was no exception, the sole difference being the absence of the head of state (President Viktor Yushchenko was paying an official visit to Germany). His edict read that the names of the laureates had to be made public on that date, but the awards ceremony would be held several days later. It was important for Mr. Yushchenko to greet this year’s laureates together with his fellow Ukrainians. It was learned that the president would attend the ceremony immediately after landing at Boryspil Airport. The long wait was rewarded with an excellent concert featuring music based on Shevchenko’s poems, performed by the Dumka Merited Academic Choir and the Merited National Academic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko arrived late and then improvisations began: jokes flew, with prize-winners stepping onstage and saying only a few words of thanks rather than reading pages of speeches written long in advance. A surprisingly warm atmosphere reigned in the hall, where a single community of like-minded individuals had gathered.

Perhaps recognition during the lifetime of the worthy laureates is more important for society than even for the winners themselves, because it means that a system of reference points and coordinates is being created.

From now on, according to the presidential edict “On the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine,” up to ten such prizes will be awarded every year (instead of five). “These changes were prompted by the fact that a strong potential has been generated in our literature and the arts over the past couple of years,” says Ivan Dziuba, Chairman of the Shevchenko Committee, adding that “the jury had to decide on a total of 72 nominees. Of course, many were eliminated in the first and second rounds.

But even those who made it to the finals were too numerous, so choosing the winners in the various categories was very difficult. With this in mind, we asked the president to increase the number of winners. Last year was special in view of the Orange Revolution and the formation of new political forces and relations among them. We wanted that year to be momentous also in the cultural domain.

This year there are nine winners: sculptor Aider Aliyev; architects Ibrahim-Gerey and Zarema Nagiyev; Fevz Yakubov and Aziz Abdullayev, creators of the concept and design of the Vidrodzhennia project in Symferopol; composers Viktor Kaminsky (for his symphony-cantata “I’m Coming, Calling upon You,” “Acathistus for the Blessed Mother of God”); Yuriy Laniuk (for his compositions “Palimpsests” and “Music from the Book of Spaces and an Elegy for the Bird of Light”); philosopher and culture expert Serhiy Krymsky (for his works Philosophy as a Path to Humaneness and Hope and Apropos of Philosophical Concepts); artist Volodymyr Mykyta (for his “Native Land” series); literary critic Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska (for her two-volume memoirs My Horizons); poet Mykhailo Vorobyov (for his collection of poems The Peony’s Servant); writers Maria Matios (for her prose work Sweet Darusia) and Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky (for his biographical novel A Poet from Hell). No awards were conferred in the film and theater nominations.

As soon as The Day learned the winners’ names, it interviewed all those among them who are close to this newspaper, including Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska, Maria Matios, Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, and Serhiy Krymsky (see no. 36, March 1). “The fact that the Shevchenko Committee gave consideration to Ukrainian philosophy is a significant event,” Serhiy Krymsky told The Day at the awards ceremony, adding that “philosophy means understanding a certain epoch. Without a world view of what is happening in Ukraine, especially now that a new nation-state is being created, it is impossible to achieve sociocultural progress in Ukrainian society.”

We met the other laureates during the festivities. Among them was Fevz Yakubov, the designer of the Vidrodzhennia complex in Simferopol. He said that the monument is an ode to all things good; over 40% of the Crimean Tatar population perished in the first years of the deportation. “We were saved by the Uzbeks; without their help all of us would probably have been destroyed. Now that we are in the process of ethnic revival, we are thinking about the Ukrainians. We are most grateful to you because you are trying to make the Crimean Tatars equal to you.” Viktor Kaminsky said, “I wrote the composition ‘Ukraine: The Road to Calvary’ to Ihor Kalynets’s lyrics, while the oratorio “I’m Coming, Calling upon You” is based on the writings of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. I’m aware that Ukrainian cultural values are increasingly appreciated in this country. There are also hopes that the official ceremony of the Shevchenko celebrations will eventually turn into something more in keeping with the people’s spirit.”

The Day called one of its best friends, Liudmyla Shevchenko, director of the Taras Shevchenko Homeland Preserve, to congratulate her on the jubilee. We wanted to know how they were celebrating the occasion in Moryntsi, Kyrylivka, and Budyshche because Liudmyla Shevchenko has never been invited to attend any of the ceremonies in Kyiv. She wasn’t present this year either. But we were happy to learn that Minister of Culture and Art Oksana Bilozir visited the places where Taras Shevchenko spent his childhood and youth. In a telephone conversation with the director of the preserve, The Day’s Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna said that it would be very appropriate to hold the Taras Shevchenko Prize awards ceremony in Moryntsi, where the poet spent his childhood years. This would also spur the local authorities to action, repairing the roads and finishing the construction of the local elementary school.

The Day’s Reference:

The Taras Shevchenko Prize of Ukraine is the most prestigious national award, initiated in 1961. Today it is worth UAH 100,000.