The Country’s Pride Prize was awarded in Kyiv on 10 April 2009

The Country’s Pride Prize award ceremony took place on 10 April 2009 at the National Ivan Franko Drama Theatre in Kyiv. This was the sixth ceremony honouring the laureates of the nationwide Prize, a project by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation implemented in close cooperation with the Novy Channel and Fakty newspaper. A TV version of the event will be broadcasted on 17 April 2009 at 21:30 on the Novy Channel.

Throughout the past year, the Public Panel of the Prize had been selecting nominees who proved to be real heroes in the eyes of their relatives and the whole country. 12 individuals from all over Ukraine were selected from nearly 30 nominees and became laureates in the following nominations: Neighbour of the Year (Halyna Kondrashova), Family Story (Vera Krepkina), Sense of Duty (Hryhorii Lebei), Spirit’s Strength (Olha Pasholok), Doctor of the Year (Oleksandr Reznikov), Outstanding Examples of Bravery (Liubov Shapoval), Personal Achievement (Ivan Sivak and Nadia Verbytska), Rare Talent (Serhii Tymofeiev), All for one (Oleksia Yukhymchenko), Personal Achievement (Andrii and Bohdan Toporovski).

The final part of the Country’s Pride ceremony is a time when distinguished Ukrainians including political and public figures, sports representatives and show-biz stars honour the uncommon deeds of the common people. Among the 2008 Prize awarders were Volodymyr Lytvyn, Speaker of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Raisa Bohatyriova, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine; Yurii Lutsenko, Minister of Interior of Ukraine; Arsenii Yatseniuk, Member of Ukrainian Parliament; Rostyslav Karandieev, Deputy Minister for Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine; Tetiana Korniakova, Deputy Attorney-General of Ukraine; Erdogan Serif Iscan, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Turkey to Ukraine; Vitalii Klitschko, a public figure and boxer; Iryna Lysenko, Head of Board of Directors of Novy Channel; Oleksandr Shvets, Chief Editor of the Fakty newspaper; Valery Borzov and Olha Korobka, the Olympic champions.

All laureates were presented with award statuettes, Diplomas, monetary prize and special gifts. Volodymyr Lytvyn, for instance, presented a blind history teacher Hryhorii Lebei who worked for 40 years at one of Mariupol schools with a PC equipped with special software for visually impaired people. The politician stated: “Here today we’re witnessing the examples of how one must live and win, selflessly serve the country, people and oneself.”

Victor Pinchuk, founder of the philanthropic foundation: “Similar Prizes exist in many countries of the world. But Ukraine needs it today like never before as it makes people believe in their own strength, makes them respect themselves and makes them proud of their own country.”

Talking about significance of the Country’s Pride Prize Arsenii Yatseniuk outlined: “This is an answer to the questions of what Ukraine is, what the Ukrainian idea is and who the Ukrainians are.”

A special award in the nomination “Strength of Spirit came as a total surprise for the whole party. The award was presented to 16 crew members of “Faina” ship and officers of Foreign Intelligence Services of Ukraine led by the Head of FISU Mykola Malomuzh who recently took part in a rescue operation to free Ukrainian sailors from the pirates’ captivity.

The whole of the Faina crew came on to the stage of the Ivan Franko Theatre. They received congratulations from Vitalii Klitschko, a well-known public figure and sportsman: “For several months the entire world was watching our fellow-countrymen, our sailors, held hostage by the pirates and saw them demonstrate real courage, strength of spirit and character. Locked up in a constricted space without water, food and medicine they set an example of true valour.”

All Prize laureates were treated to the individual music performances by their favourite singers, including Ani Lorak, Viacheslav Vakarchuk, Nina Matvienko, Natalia Mohylevska, Valerii Kharchyshyn, Tina Karol and Vera Brezhneva.

The Novy Channel will broadcast the TV version of the ceremony on 17 April 2009 at 21:30.

You can visit the event’s photo-gallery at the Victor Pinchuk Foundation website