TARAS SHEVCHENKO PRIZES HANDED OUT AT MARIYINSKY PALACE Although Tetiana Yablonska would have liked to receive hers on Mount Chernecha where the poet lies buried

Actually, the famous woman artist wanted to say this in her traditional thank-you address to the Shevchenko Prize Committee after receiving this most prestigious Ukrainian government award for outstanding merit in literature and the arts. This year’s nominations passed in an atmosphere thick with scandal and intrigue. As was to be expected, the finale also turned out saturated with emotions and ambitions, mostly because of the site of the ceremony.

The Provisions on the Shevchenko Prize, adopted last year, read that “the diplomas and honorable distinctions shall be presented on top of Mount Taras [another name of Mount Chernecha].” The new procedure was put to the test last year and the result was not gratifying. Everything turned out too Soviet-like official, complimented by poor organization. Suffice it to recall that, because of what was described as presidential security arrangements, hundreds of people (among them visitors from remote regions) could not get past roadblocks and police cordons. In other words, the much advertised “nationwide” character of the ceremony remained on paper. In this sense the Presidential Administration’s decision to hold this year’s awarding ceremony at the grand Mariyinsky Palace seems reasonable, the more so that the decision was made in response to messages from the creative unions and from State Administration of Cherkasy oblast (for the latter such an annual event means extra trouble and spending). However, the main reason, according to The Day’s confidential source in the Presidential Administration, is President Kuchma’s skeptical attitude about a Kaniv trip every May.

Volodymyr Yavorivsky, Chairman of the Taras Shevchenko Prize Committee, says that he thinks the decision a mistake, regarding it as a conscious attempt to belittle the main government creative trophy. “The very fact that the Chief Executive would climb to the top of Mount Taras added weight to both the laureates and himself,” he stressed. Ihor Likhovy, director of the Shevchenko National Preserve in Kaniv, is even more to the point: “Last year we all came close to the European concept of cultural values when the capital’s administrative elite denied themselves luxury and pomp so as not to cast a shadow on the true cultural summit of the nation. Obviously, getting through the force field of Mount Taras proved too trying an experience for some of them, because climbing this hill requires a clear conscience and Shevchenko’s own true love for every fellow human, rather than just strong legs.”