Ukrainska Pravda Award winners announced – photo
Ukrainska Pravda Award honours outstanding people and stories that shaped and transformed Ukraine over the previous year. This year’s award ceremony took place in Kyiv on 20 December.
Ukrainska Pravda editors chose the winners in the Journalist of the Year, Artist of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Civic Position, Best Humanitarian Project and Ukrainska Pravda’s Hero categories.
Members of the Ukrainska Pravda Club voted for the winners in the Innovator of the Year and Inspiration of the Year categories.
The award ceremony took place at Ukraine’s National Radio’s Recording House with support from Dragon Capital, Metinvest, PJSC Odesa Cognac Plant, ShustoFF, and Kyiv Bakery and Confectionery LLC.
The Academic Choir of Ukraine’s National Radio led by conductor Yuliia Tkach opened the evening, performing Prayer for Ukraine by Mykola Lysenko and Oleksandr Konyskyi, Melody by Myroslav Skoryk, and the world-famous Shchedryk by Mykola Leontovych.
In her opening speech, Ukrainska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevgil Musaieva told the story of her acquaintance with a German volunteer who first helped Ukrainians fleeing from the hottest spots, and later gave her car for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
"We all understand that next year will be just as difficult. But it will definitely be a little easier with bright people and stories. So when despair and darkness overcome you once again, and I know it happens often, or when you feel extraordinarily alone in this world, or when you feel like there is no hope, just remember bright people. I just remembered this story about Anka. Bright people help you endure the darkest times. And if you have at least one such person by your side, not everything has been lost yet," Musaieva said.
Olena Tolkachova, Head of the Azov Regiment Patronage Service, and military officer Oleksandr Matsiievskyi, whom the Russians treacherously shot in March 2023 for saying "Glory to Ukraine!", received the Civic Position of the Year award.
Publicist Pavlo Kazarin became Journalist of the Year. Kazarin joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. He is covering the war and various military units for various media outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda.
Japanese volunteer Fuminori Tsuchiko and Kharkiv resident Nataliia Hrama won the Volunteer of the Year award.
Fuminori, 75, travelled from Japan to Ukraine after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He sold his house in Japan – he says he is not planning to return there. Together with Nataliia, every day they feed over 1,000 Kharkiv residents free of charge in a café in Saltivka. They have become a symbol of the city's invincibility.
Writer Artem Chekh won the Artist of the Year award. He has been fighting on the front since March 2022. In May 2023, he fought near Bakhmut. The events of the Russian-Ukrainian war will likely feature in his future works, as Chekh believes that "War is not a reason to give up writing".
Superhumans, a centre for prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for war victims, won the Best Humanitarian Project award.
During the award ceremony, Superhumans CEO Olha Rudnieva told a moving story about a Superhumans patient who was able to start walking after only three days after having both of his legs amputated. He was motivated by the thought of holding his future child, which he wanted to do while standing confidently.
"We’re just a springboard for really amazing people," Rudnieva said about the Superhumans centre.
Oleksandr Yakovenko, a businessman from Odesa, became the Innovator of the Year.
Yakovenko’s Khvylia 91 (Wave 91) charitable foundation manufactures high-tech FPV-drones, trains drone operators, and supplies intelligence drones, special equipment, vehicles, and other much-needed aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Yakovenko did not make it to the award ceremony, but his colleague Tetiana Kostina was able to attend.
A Defence Intelligence Special Operations Forces officer with the call-sign Conan won the Inspiration of the Year award.
In August 2023, Conan fell overboard during a Ukrainian operation in the Black Sea. He ended up alone in the sea, 130 kilometres away from the shore, under the noses of the Russian soldiers, after a Russian aircraft attacked his group’s boat. He was only rescued after spending 14 hours alone in the sea.
"Spend more time with your family and loved ones, because as experience suggests, those are the people who will worry about you and appreciate having you near them," Conan said.
Tetiana Shevchenko, known as Baba Nadia, was presented the Ukrainska Pravda Hero award. In the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, Shevchenko wrote "F**k off out of Ukraine and our village, you bastards!", addressed to the Russian soldiers, on a placard she placed at the bus stop at the village of Mykhalky where she lives.
"As a teacher, I should probably be ashamed of what I’ve written. But for some reason I’m not. The war will be over, we will win, and then we can all become polite again…" Shevchenko said.
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