Marvel children

For any parent their child is the smartest, most talented, and most beautiful. All these traits acquire even greater meaning when they are acknowledged by others. A case in point is “The Smartest Child,” a TV program that introduces to us children with encyclopedic knowledge. In contrast to this, we have virtually no knowledge of children who hold records in sports or are fashion designers, composers, painters, or even lifeguards.

The organizers of the first-ever Ukrainian competition for the “Marvel Child” prize have set out to remedy the situation. Preparations continued for nearly two years. Within this time period nearly 3,000 children from Ukraine have applied to the competition. Among them are winners of circus festivals, candidate masters in sports, members of the Small Academy of Sciences, and masters of the fine arts. It is hard to believe that all of these accomplishments have been made by children.

The 15 finalists of the competition have recently received their prizes in the Ukraine Palace. Who are these young people and what did they do to impress the jury? Viktor NOVIKOV, Director General of the Family Leisure Agency and head of the competition’s organizing committee, has answered these questions in an interview to The Day.

Mr. Novikov, it would seem that such a competition looks quite strange at a time like this, when the economy is in bad shape. It all takes finances, after all.

“People’s Artist Viktor Shportko and I have jointly appealed to the presidential administration and various ministries. As a result, we received support from several agencies, including the Ministry of Emergency Situations, because one of the proposed nominations was ‘The Most Heroic Child,’ in addition to ‘The Smartest Child,’ ‘The Most Athletic Child,’ ‘The Most Marvelous Child,’ and ‘The Most Creative Child.’

“We have tried to combine all the directions along which children develop. Our prize was not financed by the state; it was all done using private funds. The ministries provided informational support only. They spread the word about the competition in all oblast state administrations and from there, throughout raions, cities, and villages.

“The only thing that a participant had to do was to fill out a form and send it to us. The most important item was “My achievements,” in which the child had to indicate his or her achievements and attach a video recording as proof. Some of the parents wrote, for example, that their son performs in a puppet theater in his kindergarten or recites poems. This is a bonus, of course, but it paled in comparison with the application forms submitted by children who won checkers competitions, performed circus numbers, had high accomplishments in sports, etc.”

Whom did you put on the jury?

“We invited well-known people who can be called “marvel adults.” The jury was headed by Ostap Stupka and also included People’s Artist Viktor Shportko, composer Ruslan Kvinta, Honored Artist of Ukraine Tetiana Piskariova, Olympic champion Yana Klochkova, producers Yurii Nikitin and Yurii Faliosa, and Honored Artist Hryhorii Chapkis. All in all there were 19 members of the jury. We also invited MPs that deal with issues like this as part of their parliamentary duties, but they did not come.

“The first stage of the competition was the selection of 10 applications in each category. Then the jury watched the submitted video recordings and assessed them using a five-point scale to choose the three prize winners. The 15 finalists showed their prowess on stage in the Ukraine Palace. No one knew who would take the first prize until the last second, because the jury voted right there in the hall. The children who competed for ‘The Smartest Child’ award were unable to demonstrate their abilities. For example, Ruslan Samolov, a six-time winner of the “Smartest Child” TV competition, took the third place, while the first prize went to Lev Bondarev. At the age of 11 this boy has already authored seven books (he wrote his first book of math problems when he was six) and has participated in international conferences in Moscow.”

Were there limitations on the age of the participants?

“The participants were aged 4 to 13. The Most Marvelous Child prize went to the 4-year-old Marharyta Salan, an extremely clever girl who knows a lot of facts in history, literature, math, and even different branches of medicine. She came on stage and recited poems by Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, etc. She knows the capitals of Poland, China, the USA, and even small African countries. She is also capable of adding numbers up to 15 and distinguishes genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and parts of speech.

“The jury was also greatly impressed by the abilities of the 12-year-old Olha Katalnikova, who can memorize, at one go, 40 words or pictures and read at the speed of 4,000 words per minute and then retell the text. On stage she demonstrated her ability to name any day of the week in the forthcoming year without using a calendar. The third prize went to Andrii Otchenashko, nicknamed ‘the plasticine boy’ for his uniquely supple body.”

Who made the biggest impression on you?

“I liked all the winners because each one of them is unique in his or her own way. The most spectacular was, in my opinion, the performance of the nominees for the ‘Most Athletic Child’ award. When the nine-year-old Anastasia Kobzova performed acrobatic numbers on a tightrope without safety equipment, the entire audience held their breath watching her. Each of the judges gave her 5 points, so she won, although her two rivals came close.

“The 13-year-old Oleh Stukov can do 120 pull-ups. This achievement was recorded by the Kunstkamera TV program. Oleh is also the champion of Ukraine in freestyle wrestling and a candidate master in sports. On stage he did only 90 pull-ups because he was very anxious. However, if you consider that even professional athletes can do, on average, 30-40 pull-ups, his achievement seems unreal.

“We also had a unique girl, Romana Sleptsova, who juggles dumbbells. She weighs 34 kilograms and is able to lift an eight-kilogram dumbbell 170 times in eight minutes. The jury was simply overwhelmed by her performance.

“In the ‘Most Creative Child’ category the jury gave an equal number of points to Anastasia Kukhar, a pianist and prize winner at numerous competitions, and Anatolii Haistruk, a 12-year-old painter from Vinnytsia. The boy has already had seven personal exhibits and has submitted an eight-centimeter-thick file full of certificates and diplomas he won. He paints pictures and does Gobelin tapestry. If I could, I would him the first prize for his patience only. By the way, I introduced Anatolii to representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers who attended the awarding ceremony. They promised to help him with entering an institute.

“The third prize went to Illia Korian, who has already created ten collections of fashion clothes.

“The children who won prizes in the ‘Most Heroic Child’ category are unique in their own ways. The jury decided that all three of them should share the first prize: the boy who pulled a five-year-old girl out of a body of water, the school student who pulled a 61-year-old man out of the sea, and the girl who saved her entire family in a fire.”

Are you going to support these children in the future?

“Our goal is not only to show talents to Ukraine but also to help them in the future. We already have a decree by the minister of extraordinary situations that the winners of the ‘Most Heroic Child’ award will be accepted to the ministry’s institute without entrance examinations. We also count on the support from the Ministry of Family, Youth, and Sports regarding our most athletic children. Concerning our young artists, we would like to promote his works further and hold auctions. We got the impression that despite their high achievements, these children are, in a way, lonely, and few people need them. That is why we got the idea of setting up the All-Ukrainian Club of Marvel Children. The competition is scheduled to be held on an annual basis, so there will be more of them. Those who failed to win a prize this time should not get offended: they can give it another try next time.

“On April 15 we are launching the second competition. We are planning to add the nomination “Achievements in Children Education.” This will apply to coaches, teachers, and educators who have been educating children for decades.”

How should the state change its policies to help children like this develop more easily?

“All the education institutions and agencies aimed at developing creative talents need greater support from the government, both in terms of information and material resources. We hope that our second competition will receive wider support than the first one. Children have received a stimulus to write new books, paint pictures, scale new heights in sports, or muster courage to do heroic deeds and save people’s lives.”