Den presented its 6th James Mace Prize on November 18. This year’s award ceremony was held as the country was going through terrible trials. While honoring the memory of millions of the Holodomor victims, who died in one of the biggest disasters in the history of Ukraine, we have been experiencing no less dramatic events, that is, the Euromaidan and the war in eastern Ukraine. In this historical context, the prize’s basic principle, the need to take a stand on civic issues, takes on particular importance.
“The opportunity to write for Den/The Day has become my salvation,” the James Mace Prize’s winner Valentyn Torba told us. “For us, Luhansk residents, it was not enough to save ourselves physically, as we also had to fight for self-preservation as persons and individuals. For a month, I had the opportunity to experience for myself how it feels when you are not allowed to speak. Back when I recorded the Holodomor recollections of my grandmother, I could not even imagine that there would come a time when Ukrainians will once again be killed in their own land, sometimes 10 meters from their homes. I think that without the genocide of the 20th century, the present one would not happen either, as too many of the killers of that time are still alive... We have to remember that right now, at this moment Ukrainians are killed for their ethnicity. We must talk about it and do not hesitate to call a spade a spade.”
The James Mace Prize for Civic Attitude in Political Journalism is presented annually by this publication on the Holodomor memorial days. It is awarded to authors of new journalistic works which contribute to strengthening historical memory of our people, its national consciousness and identity, and promote recognition of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as a crime of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
YURII SHCHERBAK WITH PRIZE WINNERS OF PREVIOUS YEARS SERHII HRABOVSKY AND IHOR SIUNDIUKOV / Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day
“Post-genocide mentality is curable and should be cured,” Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna stated as she was presenting the prize. “Reason and enhancement of knowledge, including reading books that Mace left us, are the best tools in this cause. This year’s events on Maidan have, in my opinion, shifted the paradigm in which the Ukrainians lived in the 20th century. The shadow of the 1930s catastrophe lingered over Ukraine and paralyzed our will, making us unable to take the necessary steps in time. Events of the Revolution of Dignity have clearly demonstrated that we are getting out of this paradigm of fear and hunger and are ready to create a new and different one. Understanding of that is manifest in Torba’s contributions today.”
Let us recall that earlier winners of the award included prominent journalists Ihor Losiev, Ihor Siundiukov, Serhii Hrabovsky, and Oleksandr Palii. Last year’s award went to two authors, Petro Kraliuk and Volodymyr Boiko.
The event was attended by chairman of the contest’s public board, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, famous writer Yurii Shcherbak; chairman of the State Television and Radio Committee Oleh Nalyvaiko; Doctor of History, Professor, head of the Department of Ukraine’s 1920s-1930s History at the Institute of Ukrainian History Stanislav Kulchytsky and writer, widow of James Mace Natalia Dziubenko-Mace. Moreover, prize winners of previous years came to our office to welcome the new laureate and discuss the development of Ukrainian journalism.
Read more about the award ceremony in coming issues of The Day.
By Roman HRYVINSKY, Vadym LUBCHAK, The Day
