A Thousand Copies For a Prize
This year’s Shevchenko Prize ceremony provided many surprises. There is nothing to worry about, as the committee has performed its functions properly. Nor were the nominees and winners idle, creating a whole bevy of new masterpieces. Strange as it may sound, the anniversary of Shevchenko’s birth falls on the same day, March 9, every year. On this day, winners are traditionally decorated at the Opera House, with The Day devoting quite some ink to the event. Surprisingly, the Shevchenko laureates still have not received their diplomas and insignia. This year, the diplomas sport a new attractive design but are still biding their time at the committee. Nonetheless, things are not all that bad, as the laureates have already received their prize money of UAH 75,000.
Annual meetings at the Kiev- Mohyla Academy in March have become one of the new traditions of Shevchenko Prize laureates. Although the winners gathered only for the third time, these meetings are deeply symbolic. According to Mykhailo Bryk, first vice president of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, “Mohyla graduates and Shevchenko are the two pillars of the nation’s spiritual life.” Only two of the six winners showed up, Vasyl Herasymyuk and Vyacheslav Medvid. Unfortunately, this time again they did not get their diplomas and left empty- handed. The four remaining laureates are Mariya Levytska, Viktor Shulakov, Marko Brovun, and Vyacheslav Palkin.
An improvised presidium of the meeting consisted of literati Bryk, Mykola Zhulynsky, L. Andriyevsky, and V. Panchenko, with People’s Artiste of Ukraine Larysa Kadyrova acting as emcee. All six laureates were mentioned, although those present received most attention. In particular, Academician Zhulynsky underscored that “Herasymyuk has preserved his unique feeling of responsibility before his native land,” while “Medvid conveys the thoughts of the people, our national understanding of good and evil.”
The laureates themselves were more down-to-earth. Vasyl Herasymyuk said he has no inflated self-esteem or delusion of grandeur after receiving the prize: “I know that Les Podervyansky was and remains the most popular poet.” He recited beautiful poems from his latest book, Poet in the Air.
Vyacheslav Medvid, who received a prize for his quite complex novel, Blood in the Straw, said, “I really couldn’t write a novel” and assured those present that he “wrote with a feeling of complete irresponsibility” not thinking at all about the readers. The writer also made a very interesting observation: “If a nation cannot create its own history, its language becomes the protagonist of the novel.”
Thus far, the number of Shevchenko Prize laureates has reached 531. Unfortunately, very few of them are now remembered. In an attempt to change this situation, the committee has launched a series of publications, The Library of the Shevchenko Prize Committee. The first volume, devoted to Mykola Bazhan, has been released in an edition of 5,000. The future of the project depends on the goodwill of patrons of the nation’s art. Sad but true, there are laureates whose books — works of world level — came out in editions of only 1,000 copies.
