The James Mace Prize for Citizenship… Such is the name of the honorary award established by Den/The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna. The prize has been awarded by a Public Council annually since 2009 for journalistic works that defend lofty principles and ideals of national and personal freedom of the Ukrainian nation as a whole, as well as specific individuals who make up our complex and beautiful community. Among the laureates, we have seen journalists, historians, philosophers, public figures (Ihor Losiev, Serhii Hrabovskyi, Oleksandr Palii, Petro Kraliuk, Volodymyr Boiko, Valentyn Torba, Ivan Kapsamun) who have used Den/The Day’s pages to offer, in a brilliantly professional, clear and unambiguous manner, their opinions on the most controversial issues of the 20th century Ukrainian history (the Holodomor of 1932-33, World War Two, and post-genocide syndrome as a deep trauma afflicting the Ukrainian society and our consciousness; on the lattermost issue, the legacy of great James Mace will remain a gold standard forever).
In addition, the high award, well-respected and known in this country, has been deservedly won by other persons listed above, who fearlessly, and sometimes with a huge risk for themselves (like in Torba’s case) challenged contemporary, modern heirs of the Soviet totalitarian empire, or exposed, like Kapsamun, the oligarchic trap Ukraine has found itself in due to actions of specific high officials (who have been named as well!). As a result, war has come to our land.
