In Ukraine, chickens are traditionally counted in the spring, not in the fall. The awards season begins in March, when the past year’s impressions have been properly digested, and Ukraine comes up with its Person of the Year, a program to identify the cream of the nation.
The feast began at the approaches to the Ukraine Palace. What took your breath away were two gigantic hot air balloons from Donetsk oblast. In all probability, Donetsk residents had guessed by a sixth sense that the Mayor of the Year nomination would be won by the mayor of Mariupol, Donetsk oblast. It is also here that Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin, the most illustrious representative of the diplomatic corps in Ukraine, met Vice Premier Valentyna Matviyenko, “Russia’s third most popular woman after Catherine II and Valentyna Tereshkova (the first woman cosmonaut —Ed.).” The lights go out, the fanfares blare. Now this country will come to know its heroes.
First came the words of ordinary people from Ukrainian cities and villages about their idea of success. Then this subject was picked up by all the other participants in the ceremony. But it is doubtful that ordinary Ukrainians consider all the Person of the Year winners national heroes. The purpose of the show is entirely different. Most often victory is here the common denominator of the nominees’ capabilities and their relationship with authorities, rather than any true popularity. It is quite different with chess winner Ruslan Ponomariov. He is undoubtedly the nation’s heartthrob. The modest young man gingerly tried on his gilded armor. Earlier, he would wear the same sweater and was twice blackballed from Person of the Year, although he became a full-fledged grand master two years ago.
Worthy of an award like nobody else was Zhanna Pintusevych-Blok, 2001 light gymnastics champion, as was young ballerina Milena Sydorova. “Five international competitions and five wins: I wish you the same,” the wonder girl beamed her happiness to one and all.
Fortune also failed to sidestep Andriy Tsapliyenko, Inter Television special correspondent. It was specially for him that the Journalist of the Year nomination was divided into the newspaper and television parts. Had Vadym Rabynovych’s blue-eyed boy V. Katzman, editor-in-chief of Stolichnyie novosti, been the only one to be proclaimed journalist of the year, it could have enraged the journalist community. It is specially for Andriy that a television bridge was linked up with Argentina, where by an irony of fate he is shooting the final episode of The Last Hero. These were the ceremony’s most sincere and touching moments. Russian guests constitute yet another success of the Person of the Year. It looked only natural in the year of Ukrainian-Russian friendship that Mr. Chernomyrdin and Iosif Kobzon were awarded prizes For Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Fraternal Relations between Ukraine and Russia and For Outstanding Contribution to Culture and Art respectively. While Mr. Chernomyrdin is truly popular and admittedly influential in Ukraine, Mr. Kobzon distinguished himself with a good command of Ukrainian and sang again that “the border has crossed the heart.”
With parliamentary elections coming on, the ceremony also had some other peculiarities. The cautious A. Raitsyn, head of the Bells of the Future Foundation, must have been afraid to select a Parliamentary Figure of the Year. With Vice Speaker Stepan Havrysh, SDPU(o) leader Viktor Medvedchuk and the presidential representative in Verkhovna Rada Roman Bezsmertny belonging to different political camps, it would be unwise to display affection to only one of them on the eve of the elections. So this year people’s deputies will never know which of them is the best.
The greetings of National Bank Governor Stelmakh left an embarrassment unnoticed by the uninitiated. It was announced that a high commission would select the winner one and a half hours before the ceremony started. But in his poetic speech of gratitude, the Best Financier mentioned even Mykhailo Voronin who had handed him the prize. It became clear that the exalted ode’s author had known all the details well in advance.
As a whole, the occasion was more dynamic than last year. A one-minute speech limit was set. The emcees were charming, the scenery gorgeous, and the organization unblemished, while there will be no more true heroes than there are. Otherwise, there will be no sought-after commercial success.
There also are other less biased nationwide ratings. The Vyznannia (Recognition) Prize is awarded only to time-tested nominees, those who have really left a trace in national culture. Spivakovsky’s Brand of the Year is a good example of a prize for managers and industrialists. The best producers of high-quality items are identified by consumers’ questionnaires. A tear-jerking non-commercial contest is conducted by the St. Mary Foundation: a Snow Girl of the Year is selected on New Year’s Eve among orphan girls. The Helios contest for regional television companies was the example of quite an objective competition among journalists. Television people also accept most of the Teletriumph awards. As time goes by, this country will become richer. People will respect themselves more, value their choice, leaving the Person of the Year on the fringe of public interest, while Bells of the Future will turn into Bells of the Past. It will look ridiculous to award a statue depicting Prometheus’ fire to a mediocre writer, an actor playing romantic leads, or a rich past master of backstage games.
Yet, the gray-haired sage Myroslav Popovych noted behind the scenes of the program, “Irrespective of who takes the prize, colleagues always know each other’s true worth. So this is just a beautiful and colorful feast. We need not expect anything more than this.” We no longer do.
