Den presented the James Mace Civic Stand Prize for Achievements in Journalism for the seventh time on November 18. Initiated by the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, the prize went to... Ivan Kapsamun! The winner has worked for Den since 2008, serving as politics editor since 2009; he graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the Institute of Social Studies of Mechnikov Odesa National University. For six years, Kapsamun has covered investigation of crimes committed in the Gongadze-Podolsky case, which has made him famous as nonconformist among colleagues in the profession. Years of deep involvement with “the case of the decade” resulted in the book “The Trap,” or A Case without a Statute of Limitations which was published this year in the “Contemporary History for Dummies” series of Den’s Library and very quickly sold out.
“Despite rotation of people in power, the system does not change,” Kapsamun said on being presented the award. “The Gongadze-Podolsky case has long been a marker for all – politicians, journalists, and public figures. And, unfortunately, some have failed this test. Hence, we see opportunities missed, time wasted, and territories and thousands of lives lost. Today, under the difficult conditions of frequent misunderstandings in journalism and artificial obstacles set up by the instigators of the crime, we have to fight for bringing a closure and obtaining justice in this case, as James Mace once did with regard to the Holodomor.
The country faces a difficult task, as it needs to sort out, reconsider, and overcome not only long-neglected historic issues, but also these accumulated over the years of independence. ‘James Mace considered events in Ukraine primarily from the viewpoint of creating civil society, which from the outset was the main objective for Den as well,’ the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Ivshyna wrote in the foreword to Mace’s book Your Dead Chose Me... It is with great pleasure and gratitude to Ivshyna and Den’s Public Council for the James Mace Civic Stand Prize for Achievements in Journalism that I accept this award. It definitely obligates and encourages me to fight with renewed vigor for the truth and a better future for Ukraine. Mace carried the banner of truth about the Ukrainian post-genocidal society that is in need of serious treatment. He diagnosed the problems of the nation and offered a recipe allowing to get out of this predicament. However, instead of ‘treating’ our Soviet legacy, Ukrainian politicians of the 1990s feasted on ‘sore spots’ of our society. To its post-genocidal and post-colonial issues, they added ones of their making, called post-Soviet. Corruption, crime, nepotism, immorality, self-serving behavior, assassinations... this list of phenomena of the time can go on and on. It was during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma in Ukraine that the foundations of the clan-oligarchic system were laid. The unchecked power abuse peaked in 2000 when we saw an attempt on the life of former MP Oleksandr Yeliashkevych, attack and assault on civic activist Oleksii Podolsky, and the brutal murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.”
Let us recall that in the previous years, winners of the award included famous journalists Ihor Losiev, Ihor Siundiukov, Serhii Hrabovsky, Oleksandr Palii, Petro Kraliuk, and Volodymyr Boiko. Past year, the prestigious prize was awarded to Luhansk-born Den’s journalist Valentyn Torba.
The award ceremony of the James Mace Prize served as a good occasion for open discussion between like-minded friends, the best journalists of the country. Thus, the new Ukrainian genocide in the east of the country, the legacy of James Mace that still awaits reinterpretation, and the lack of journalists willing to publicly show their position were discussed at Den’s office by members of the award’s public council Yurii Shcherbak, Stanislav Kulchytsky, and Natalia Dziubenko-Mace, along with the prize’s winners Siundiukov, Palii, Hrabovsky, Den’s journalists and colleagues from other media.
