Professionals in the advertising business know that a brand’s market position, its consumer image depends on how much inspiration was put into its creation. One of our newspaper’s trademarks is the traditional photo exhibit that Den’/The Day presents on its every anniversary to its friends, admirers, and, actually, itself. From the very first days of its existence the photo contest became an event of all-Ukrainian and even international, not just local scale; photography itself, its quality and artistic merit, has always been of great importance for our newspaper. As was noted by Den’/The Day Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna, in the fight for newspaper room between excellent illustration and mediocre text, the former always wins.
This year one more Den’ idea was put into practice, collecting the best materials published in 1997-2002 in our Ukraine Incognita section in one publication. This is the first book in the Library of Den’/The Day series, containing life stories of outstanding figures (Yaroslav the Wise, Volodymyr Monomakh, King Vytautas, Petro Mohyla, Ivan Briukhovetsky, Feofan Prokopovych, Maksym Berezovsky, Mykhailo Maksymovych, Marko Vovchok, Olha Kobylianska, Nestor Makhno, Lev Trotsky, Volodymyr Vynnychenko, and many others), both worldly renowned and less popular, who brought fame to Ukraine and are inseparably linked with it. The book describes milestones of history in chronological order (from Scythia to the epochs of princes, Cossacks, the Hetmanate, and down to Soviet Ukraine) and is unified by a simple idea: we are all descendants of generations of people who lived in this land before us. History has no right to be terra incognita: it is our responsibility before the future.
The celebration’s major event, awarding prizes to the winners of the New Day: Light and Shadows Fourth International Photo Contest, was rich in presents, warm words from those presenting the prizes, and, of course, those receiving them as a reward for their artistic skills. Note that 75 participants from 23 Ukraine’s localities sent over 300 works for the contest and competed for the title of the best photo artist this year. The grand prize, a deposit for 5,000 hryvnias from NRB- Ukrayina Bank, was delivered by bank Chairman of the Board Vyacheslav Yutkyn to Lviv-based Yevhen Kravs for his work, Ostap Khmil: Sknyliv (this work was also awarded special prize by 1+1 television). Most likely the jury fixed upon this work not just because its subject is highly tragic, relevant, and the photo itself has traveled the world over after the Lviv events. In the words of Ms. Ivshyna, the discussion on “what a journalist should have done in such situation, try to comfort the child or do his professional duty” will never be definitively answered. However, there is a significant nuance, she stressed: if it had not been for the photo journalists who immortalized such Ostaps, all those fortunate enough not to become direct witnesses of the tragedy might never realize the pain of those who were at its epicenter. Taking this into account, it seems logical that a special prize from the editor-in-chief, a digital photo camera, was awarded to Serhiy Kotelnykov, SN-Stolychni novyny [Capital News] photo correspondent, who reminded us of another, no less tragic part of Ukrainian history, World War II.
In all, as was mentioned above, there were many prizes. First and second prizes from Kharkiv’s Zapovit Charity Fund were awarded to Den’/The Day’s Mykola Lazarenko and Kyiv-based Serhiy Starostenko, Kievskie Vedomosti [Kyiv Bulletin]. Third prize went to Volodymyr Ohloblyn of Kharkiv. A special prize from KyivStar GSM was awarded to another Den’ colleague, Anatoly Medzyk. By their own hard labor (or rather its brilliant results) two photo correspondents from Kyiv earned tours from the Christopher Columbus and Arteks tour firms: Vasyl Artiushenko is going to Budapest and Mykhailo Markiv to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Berlin. In addition, all the winners were presented a mobile phone and Ace&Base startup package from KyivStar GSM and a tour from Truskavetskurort Ltd.
Perhaps all contestants share Serhiy Kotelnykov’s opinion; prizes are definitely a good thing, but what matters even more is the fact that one’s hard work was valued on its merits. “In the West there is a well-developed network of educational centers for photo artists, while in Ukraine they often learn from each other. All the nominees are, first, true professionals; second, they are aware of the others’ skills, and thus it is hard to deceive them. This is why Den’/The Day’s photo contest is a good stimulus for self-improvement,” he noted.
Beginning September 18 the exhibition will be on display at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (3, 40-richchia Zhovtnia prospekt, Moscow Square) for a month. Admission is free.
