ORDER OF LAUGHTER

The achievements of Ukrainian masters in the field of cartoons are universally acknowledged and not subject to appeal. Seriously. Over 500 times our artists have been decorated with various grand prizes and awards at the most prestigious international cartoonists contests. 186 such awards belong to Yury Kosobukin, an artist of world renown. With such a rich harvest of prizes he could long ago have gotten into The Guinness Book of Records. But he did not, and only his extraordinary natural modesty is to blame. For example, three years ago the founders of the International Awards Fund met and decided to decorate Kosobukin with the Order of Nicholas the Miracle Worker For Augmenting Good on Earth. To preclude all doubt on the award’s high statute, suffice it to say that it is included in the famous Geneva Awards Register. Among its laureates are world famous persons as Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Christian Bernard, and Serhiy Bubka. So, Yury had to wait for three years before the deserved award found its hero. The artist received the order from fund president Kostiantyn Bobryshchev during a solemn ceremony to honor the winners and laureates of the First International Cartoon Contest, where Kosobukin was president of the jury.

Cartoonists from 24 countries took part. And the winners are: Jugoslav Vlahovic (Yugoslavia) first prize, Serhiy Riabokon (Ukraine) and Anatoly Stankulov (Bulgaria) second prizes, and Mikhail Zlatkovsky (Russia) third prize. Some works also won special prizes and premiums.