They earned it!

On Journalists’ Day President Viktor Yushchenko awarded state decorations and honorary titles to representatives of the mass media. Among them were journalists working at The Day. Deputy Editor in Chief Hanna Sheremet was awarded the title of Meritorious Journalist, and Photography Editor Leonid Bakka was awarded the title of Meritorious Worker of Culture.

Also honored was another of our newspaper’s representatives, Mykola Lazarenko, chief consultant of the Main Information Policy Service at the Presidential Secretariat, who is well known in professional circles as “Viktor Yushchenko’s photographer.” Lazarenko became a popular photographer while working as a photo-correspondent for The Day.

The Day salutes its colleagues. We are proud to say that our small newspaper is known for its enviable number of prize-winning journalists and columnists, including Klara Gudzyk, Vitalii Kniazhansky (Economic Affairs Editor), and Larysa Ivshyna (Editor in Chief) who received awards in previous years.

We asked our colleagues to comment on their awards. “I confess I feel good,” Bakka said. “I feel good working at The Day, the newspaper that allowed many journalists, especially press photographers, to fully reveal their potential. In many respects this is thanks to Larysa Ivshyna’s vigilant attitude to photography. Under these circumstances a journalist’s daily work acquires special meaning. It is no accident that our photography contests and exhibits attract attention from our colleagues in other regions, other newspapers and news agencies, and viewers. It pleases me to know that I am a party to this, and it is gratifying that my work has been honored.”

“For me, journalism is teamwork,” Hanna Sheremet said. “The result depends on everyone’s efforts, from the editor in chief to the page maker, from a driver to a distinguished author, from a columnist to a novice journalist. Each person’s success is always a collective one, and I am grateful to my colleagues for this. That is why to me this calling means responsibility, above all. It is responsibility to the people I work with and to those for whom we are making our newspaper.”