The Union State Prize in 2010 may be awarded to all nominees for the first time

July 12, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The Union State Prize in Literature and Art for 2009-2010 should be awarded to all nominees. This proposal was made today by experts in music and culture, and representatives of various media at a creative meeting in Vitebsk with the nominees for this high award, reports a BELTA correspondent. The event was organized by the Standing Committee of the Union State and the publishing house "Belarusian Encyclopedia named after P. Brovka" within the framework of the XVIII International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk". In 2009-2010, four nominees were nominated for the award: People's Artist and Honored Artist of Belarus Leonid Shchemelev for the series of works "Palette of My Time", consisting of two cycles "For the Sake of Life on Earth" and "The Connecting Thread of History"; writer and statesman of Belarus Nikolai Cherginets for the works "You Have a Task" and "Sons"; People's Artists of the USSR, brothers Sergey and Alexey Tkachev, for their paintings from the cycle "Native Land"; sculptors - creators of the monument to Yanka Kupala in Moscow (authors: Yuri Grigoriev, Lev and Sergey Gumilevsky) and the monument to Alexander Pushkin in Minsk (Yuri Orekhov (posthumously), Grigory Orekhov, Yuri Grigoriev). By the decision of the expert council under the Standing Committee of the Union State, which includes famous cultural figures of Belarus and Russia, the prize is awarded to only three nominees. "It will be very difficult to choose them this time, as the contribution of each of the contenders to strengthening the relations of brotherhood, friendship and cooperation between Belarus and Russia is equally worthy of this honorable award," noted Irina Narkevich, Head of the Department of Social Policy and Information Support of the Standing Committee, at the meeting. It is impossible to change the conditions of the Award Regulations, however, if the proposal made today is more widely supported by representatives of the public, creative unions and various public organizations of the two countries, it is possible that in 2010 the Union State Prize will be awarded to all nominees for the first time, the interlocutor added. Irina Narkevich also emphasized that the innovation of this year was the solemn presentation of an honorary diploma of the Standing Committee of the Union State to all nominees for the prize. This emphasizes their high status and contribution to the integration of ties between the two fraternal peoples. The Union State Prize in Literature and Art has been awarded every two years since 2002. During this time, 12 famous cultural figures have become its laureates. It is noteworthy that six of them are citizens of Belarus and six are Russians. The monetary equivalent of the award is 1250 times the minimum wage in Russia (this year it will be about $100,000). -0-