On June 5 the awardees of the new prize were announced. Yevhen Kontsevych the Unbowed Knight of Ukrainian Spirit International Award (this is the full name of the new prize) was founded by the representatives of Ukraine, the US, Canada, Norway, and Russia; among the founders and awarding committee are the laureates of Taras Shevchenko National Prize Valerii Shevchuk and Yevhen Pashkovsky. Our readers will remember that the writer and human rights advocate Yevhen Kontsevych from Zhytomyr (whom we lost two years ago) was paralyzed since youth, yet became one of the icons of Ukraine’s Sixtiers’ movement – a social phenomenon, whose representatives ushered in the independence of our country.
The poet Lina Kostenko was awarded in the nomination “Literature,” while ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko got the prize as an outstanding politician. The nominees must stand out as bearers of unbroken spirit in their careers or social activities, said Hryhorii Tsymbaliuk, chairman of the awarding committee. He also informed The Day that initially a financial prize for the awardees had been planned, but later a decision was taken to initiate a series of books under the common heading Zhyttiepys chasu. Lytsari neskorenoho ukrainskoho dukhu (The Biography of Time. Knights of the Unbowed Ukrainian Spirit), with a separate volume dedicated to each awardee. Just the other day the first of them was brought, titled Drama Ukrainy z Yuliieiu Tymoshenko v epitsentri podii (Ukraine’s Drama with Yulia Tymoshenko in the Thick of the Events), edited by Yakiv Zaiko, MP of the Verkhovna Rada in 1990-94. The book comprises articles, reviews, commentaries, and interviews, mainly related to the trials of the ex-prime minister and her subsequent imprisonment. It was presented during a civil assembly in Zhytomyr, where the names of the awardees where made known. A book about Lina Kostenko is expected to follow. Among the members of the editorial board is The Day’s friend, Professor of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy Volodymyr Panchenko.
