...And the Viewers Liked It
Last week brought the results of the viewers’ award nomination of the Fifth International Photo Contest of The Day. Often the opinions of ordinary viewers are no less important than expert evaluations. The contenders for a UAH 500 cash award and special prizes from our newspaper had waited for the contest results for two weeks, during which time The Day’s photo exhibit was on display at Kyiv’s Artist’s Home.
At the moment when The Day’s photo exhibit began its tour of Ukraine, two voting boxes were emptied in the editorial office, and the count began. A total of 803 ballots had been cast. From the very outset, Serhiy Starostenko took the lead. He was way ahead of the remaining contenders until it transpired that Mykola Lazarenko was treading on his heels. But when the boy from Volodymyr Falin’s High Voltage took center stage, the three leaders became obvious. Notably, the photo contest is different from an election in that the photographers continued working on their future masterpieces instead of following the count.
After the count was completed, the lineup of the ten top authors looked as follows: Mykola Lazarenko — 134 Serhiy Starostenko — 107 Oleksandr Synytsia — 50 Volodymyr Falin — 44 Dmytro Komarov — 44 Mykhailo Markiv — 35 Borys Korpusenko — 35 Serhiy Hlabchuk — 28 Anatoly Medzyk — 2610. Ivan Solovyov — 25
When the voting cards were grouped by the title of the works, it transpired that the votes garnered by the leaders were scattered. Of Mykola Lazarenko’s photos, the most popular were Private Territory (34), Timeout (17), Position (13), Fragile Universe (10). Of Serhiy Starostenko’s works, Proximity to Power (50), Ukrainian Venice (19), and A Leap on a Midsummer Night (13) garnered most votes. The bronze prizewinner, Oleksandr Synytsia, conquered the viewers with his two photos titled A Moment of Consultation (34) and Sweet Seventeen (7). Tellingly, Volodymyr Falin alone won forty-two votes for his only photo titled High Voltage.
Meanwhile, the viewers were required to name the author of the best work and its title. Thus the list of best works significantly differs from the overall lineup: Serhiy Starostenko “Proximity to Power” — 50 Volodymyr Falin “High Voltage” — 42 Mykola Lazarenko “Private Territory” — 34 Oleksandr Synytsia “A Moment of Consultation” — 34 Borys Korpusenko “A Modest Ukrainian Wedding” — 31 Volodymyr Tukhvatshyn “Sad” — 26 Valery Solovyov “Our Land” — 25 Serhiy Starostenko “Ukrainian Venice” — 19 Mykola Lazarenko “Timeout” — 17 Anatoly Pokhyliuk “Fiddler” — 16
Well, even on the photo exhibit’s opening day one could predict who would become the viewers’ favorite author, as Serhiy Starostenko’s ministerial cat drew the most public attention. Cameras clicked away, as everybody wanted a photo taken of himself next to this incredibly cute feline. Bursts of laughter in the opposite end of the hall were a sign that there was another photo to challenge first prize. The forty- two votes cast for Volodymyr Falin’s High Tension were evidence that many lacked high tension. Oleksandr Synytsia and Mykola Lazarenko divided the third viewers’ prize, with their works titled A Moment of Consultation and Private Territory respectively garnering thirty-four votes each.
Aside form the special prize from the NRB Ukraine Bank, the winner of the viewer’s prize, Serhiy Starostenko, received a cash prize of UAH 500 and The Day’s photo album.
Meanwhile, the tug of war between Serhiy @TT Starostenko and Volodymyr Falin for first place caused the organizers to bend the contest rules. Since the gap between the works of the two photographers was negligible, and, at the same time, Volodymyr Falin was not among the contest prizewinners, The Day could not ignore the attention his photo received from the viewers. Thus the editors decided to grant the author a UAH 500 cash prize from The Day’s Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna along with the book Dvi Rusi and photo album with the best works that featured in The Day’s photo contest. As can be seen from the above lists, our colleague Mykola Lazarenko came in best overall. None of his works escaped the viewers’ attention. However, the admirers of his works lacked a unity of opinion that would make him undisputed winner, which proves that there as many opinions as there are people. Under conditions of rigid competition in The Day’s photo contest anyone can become a winner, as long as the work touches a chord in the viewer’s soul.
It is noteworthy that the opinions of the visitors of The Day’s photo exhibit practically matched the decision of the professional jury. And considering the fact that over 800 persons voted for the best photo, such results could pass for a serious public opinion poll.
