The Victor Pinchuk Foundation held the 10th “Pride of the Country ” Award Ceremony

On Thursday, April 4, 2013, at 19:00, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in partnership with STB TV-channel and the Fakty newspaper held the 10^th annual award ceremony to honor laureates of the national Prize “Pride of the Country 2012” and announced the names of Ukraine’s new heroes.

STB TV-channel will broadcast recorded version of the event on April 13 at 22:00.

Public Board of the Prize has been selecting the Prize laureates among people who in critical situations have manifested the best of human qualities and proved with their deeds and lives that our country can be proud of them. The winners of the “Pride Of The Country 2012” are heroes from all over Ukraine awarded in such categories as Outstanding Examples of Bravery  (Pavlo Bondarev); Doctor of the Year (Emil Fistal); Record of the Year (Natalia Prologaeva); Manly Deed (Anton Fedenko); Child Courage (Victoria Goriachko); Sense of Duty (Oleksandr Chumakov); Family Story (Iryna Mitina and Viacheslav Dovhan); Rare Talent (Anton Stepanov and his team); Strength of Spirit (Daria Bezkosta); Personal Achievement (Yaroslav Semenenko), All Together (a group of Kyiv volunteers who came to rescue people caught out in a blizzard).

Oleksandr Chumakov – the only Ukrainian in the international crew of the German ship “Polonia” who survived a pirate attack on the ship and managed to take the vessel to the shore - has been voted the winner in the “National Hero” category, as a result of an open nationwide on-line voting at gordist.org

To present awards to this year’s laureates of the Pride of the Country 2012 Prize, the stage of the National Academic Drama Theater welcomed the First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Kostiantyn Gryshchenko, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Head of the Presidential Administration Serhiy Liovochkin, President of Ukraine (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko.

All winners received memorable statuettes, diplomas, cash prizes and special gifts.

The “Pride Of The Country Prize” is established to celebrate uncommon deeds of common people whose strength of spirit and big heart can make the impossible possible, giving us reasons to feel proud of living in the same country with them. This event sets a positive example for the society, making Ukrainians believe in their own strength, respect themselves and feel proud for their homeland.