During an online conference held on January 13, the 20th anniversary of Larysa Ivshyna’s service as editor-in-chief of Den, she identified a number of important topics for this year and came up with a unique initiative to establish an annual prize for Den’s own correspondents and freelancers in the provinces which would recognize the best journalistic contributions.
The prize will be awarded annually in December, starting in 2017. Its statute is being created, and we will reveal all the organizational details soon; now, let us remember the man it was launched to commemorate. Looking back on 20 years of experience in managing an all-Ukrainian daily, Ivshyna made a gesture of great gratitude and at the same time found a way to motivate colleagues to better themselves. “It is important that the memory of such highly professional and morally upstanding journalists lives on. One of them was Den’s own correspondent in Khmelnytsky Mykhailo Vasylevsky,” she noted on Facebook.
Vasylevsky worked with Den from the very first issue and until 2009, when a serious disease claimed his life. Professionalism, honesty, kindness and rich Ukrainian language are remarked upon by all who knew him. It was he who authored the unforgettable article about “the contemporary of the October Revolution from the village of Holenyshcheve” Khyma Ostapchuk, who had too much self-esteem to live alongside those who once expropriated her family, and she also refused to get her house connected to the grid, as if saying “I do not want to have anything to do with Vladimir Lenin and his gifts.” This article and the story of the journalist’s second meeting with Granny Khyma were even used by students of Den’s Summer School of Journalism as the basis for their own essays, and those articles were selected for the second volume of Den’s Extract 150. By the way, should not we reread these texts in 2017, the centennial of the October Revolution, and look anew at the stance taken by that “miserly and dim-witted woman” as she was called by neighbors, while being in fact a person who chose non-conformism to the point of “incompatibility with regular life”?
It was Vasylevsky as well who broke the story of a man who spent 57 years in the attic which attracted the attention of reporters from Japan and France... It was his satirical piece about “the Monica candy,” which was taken up by Reuters in the midst of a presidential scandal in the US... This list can go on and on, since outstanding talent of the reporter Vasylevsky radiates from each of his contributions (all of them are readily available from Den’s online archive at day.kyiv.ua).
Vasylevsky’s family was happy to comment on the editor-in-chief’s initiative. His daughter Olha wrote: “Ukrainian political writer, journalist, and Den’s correspondent Mykhailo Vasylevsky would have turned 65 on January 24... Almost 8 years ago, Ukraine lost one of its most prominent journalists, and I lost my Father, Teacher, and the closest and most devoted friend. Den has established the Vasylevsky Prize for its own correspondents. We dreamed about it, and Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna has made our dream come true. We stand ready to contribute financially and morally to support Ukrainian journalism and to keep it hard-hitting, talented, independent, and patriotic. That is, the way my father did it.
“Thank you, our dear Ms. Ivshyna! We feel moved and happy. Where are you, o talented, courageous correspondent? One who the powerful are afraid of, one who the ordinary people respect? One who destroys and revives with a word? Make yourself known!”
Search for sensational stories, the ability to cover them and be honest and friendly – Den’s prize is designed to uphold these standards.
We also asked colleagues who worked with Vasylevsky and knew him personally to respond to Ivshyna’s initiative.
“ONE CAN AND SHOULD LOOK UP TO SUCH A BENCHMARK IN THE JOURNALISTIC PROFESSION”
Vadym RYZHKOV, Den’s own correspondent in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast:
“Talented journalists have a special talent. They have the gift to see, hear, and cover what other people usually fail to notice. Our colleague Mykhailo Vasylevsky was generously endowed with this gift, and his articles repeatedly made waves not only in Ukrainian media, but in foreign ones as well. He, more than anyone else, was able to see the history and life of our country through the fate of an ordinary Ukrainian. I know from experience that it is quite hard to find a source and get them talking, opening their soul. At the same time, it was difficult to find a more modest person than Vasylevsky, who was so cool about his well-deserved laurels for journalistic achievements. I remember him talking with us during own correspondents’ meetings at Den’s office, as he squinted behind a cloud of cigarette smoke. He always had an interesting life story to tell, or even a very lifelike witty joke. His texts featured imagery all of their own. I also remember another of his qualities, which is very rare nowadays, I mean friendliness to people in general and to his fellow reporters in particular. I think that the decision to establish the Vasylevsky Prize for own correspondents is totally justified. One can and should look up to such a benchmark in the journalistic profession. And the Vasylevsky Prize will do exactly that: stimulate own correspondents to grow up professionally as they try to hit this benchmark.”
“HE WAS A MASTER OF UNUSUAL STORIES ABOUT THE WORLD OF ORDINARY PEOPLE”
Natalia MALIMON, Den’s own correspondent in Volyn oblast:
“Today, young and not so young journalists have no personal memory of Mykhailo Vasylevsky anymore. It is impossible to imagine the history of Den/The Day and the history of the Ukrainian journalism as a whole without him. However, it so happened that the Ukrainian journalist community lacks rules and traditions which would make it appreciate people whose work has set the gold standard for others. Far it be from me to describe Vasylevsky as a venerable mentor, a living classic. He was a master of unusual stories about the world of ordinary people. He wrote about his grandfather who spent 57 years in the attic, the old woman Khymka who was born in the fateful year of 1917, and the death of a teenager, and these everyday tales reflected the history of the country, the story of the human world.
“Vasylevsky’s contributions in Den/The Day probably ought to become a subject of student research, for they can teach youths to find the topic, choose means and style to cover it, and most importantly, teach them how ‘human-centered’ journalism works, which is, unfortunately, irrelevant at the moment. Vasylevsky wrote as he lived, sincerely and simply, and most importantly, honestly. It is a rarity now as well. He was friendly with colleagues and never jealous of someone’s success, as he was glad to see them succeed. It looks to be another rarity now. Describing a person after their death is of little use. We need to read and reread Vasylevsky instead, because his contributions in Den/The Day would often benefit today’s reader as well.
“It so happened that out of all own correspondents of Den/The Day, I was closest to him. Not that some others were somehow flawed, but they were further removed in their perceptions of our world. Vasylevsky, meanwhile, was closer, because he had another rare feature: he could listen, empathize, and truly rejoice even at another’s success. He could suggest something, offer support and understanding. Of course, it primarily concerned our work, which is especially prized not only by journalists, but in any human community as well. His texts are eminently quotable, and every quote makes one admire his highly individual style and rich (while seemingly simple) Ukrainian language. ‘What a sorrow it is, to speak of him in the past tense. To tell that he lived…’ – a single line immediately reveals Vasylevsky as the text’s author. We are just as sad to speak of him in the past tense. ‘Despite it all, life is beautiful!’ – this is another saying of Vasylevsky. While there are no indispensable people, some people are unique. This applies to him.”
