The meeting of the National Shevchenko Award Committee has selected five laureates out of the 19 candidates shortlisted for the third tier of the selection process. According to the Western Information Corporation (ZIK), the list of the finalists will soon be officially approved by President Viktor Yushchenko. The meeting was attended by 21 out of 23 committee members, and the five worthy finalists were selected by secret ballot, receiving no fewer than 16 favorable votes.
“We held two preliminary four-hour meetings none of which resulted in any ballot, though. These were preliminary discussions that included an exchange of opinions and impressions. They were aimed chiefly at stimulating the committee members to read, watch, and attend the performances and concerts. After we shortlisted 19 out of 62 nominees, we entered the stage of active discussion. On February 16 we spent three hours just discussing the candidates. Everybody had an opportunity to express his position. And it was only at that time that we started the secret ballot. According to the statute of the award, we can select up to ten candidates, but with great effort and gnashing of teeth we selected five candidates in the first ballot and quit the process. There were suggestions from some members to continue the selection because some of the candidates had come very close to the magic number of 16, but we decided to stop the ballot. This decision is final,” said Mykola Zhulynsky, head of the Shevchenko Award Committee.
It is established practice not to disclose the names of the laureates prior to the publication of the president’s edict. Yushchenko has to sign it. The awarding ceremony and the design of the decorations will be changed.
“At a meeting with the president at which we discussed the concept of Ukraine’s National Award and the design of the decorations, I suggested holding the awarding ceremony in the solemn atmosphere of the Mariinsky Palace, but it is being reconstructed at the moment. So, this time the ceremony will still be held at the National Opera, at 2 p.m. on March 9. However, everything is to be arranged in a stately way with the appropriate festive dress code. The awards are going to be handed personally by the president. We want to make the most favorable presentations of our new laureates’ creative achievements at the concert that will be broadcast live on television. We have already adopted the new designs of the decoration and the diploma, as approved by the president. The award pin will contain the portrait of young Shevchenko copied from his self-portrait. The same image is reproduced on the diploma and the text is written in Narbut’s type,” said Zhulynsky.
