Award For Spiritual Revival presented in Palace of Republic

12 января 2016

By Alexei Adashkin: The prestigious award For Spiritual Revival has been awarded for the past nineteen years by the country’s President. Belarus is rich in talents, and the state is doing everything to strengthen the intellectual and spiritual potential of the people.

The ceremony honouring the winners of the award For Spiritual Revival and special prizes of the President is held every year at Christmas time, becoming a good and symbolic tradition. After all, commitment to Christian values ​​is one of the main factors in the development of the Belarusian nation and the preservation of its unity.

This year, the ceremony marked the start of the Year of Culture in Belarus.

Five awards For Spiritual Revival and ten special prizes were awarded at year-end 2015. All the awardees have one thing in common - their work and persistence make Belarus richer both spiritually and morally. Thus, the awards went to Bishop of Borisov and Maryina Gorka Veniamin and prior of the Holy Trinity religious community from the village of Rositsa in the Upper Dvina region Cheslav Kurechko. Among the winners of the highest award are a team of the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre Mother and Child; the authors of the requiem book Live and Remember - part-time employee of the International Broadcasting Directorate of the Belarusian Radio Elena Khoroshevich and Professor at the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Anatoly Sharkov; the National Art Museum’s team, priests, doctors, artists, journalists, and even physicists who managed to create holographic copies of Christian relics using the latest laser technologies.

Special prizes of the President went to the staff of the Bolshoi, Gorky Drama and Youth Theatres, as well as the Great Patriotic War Museum. Awards were also presented to painters, sculptors, teachers and young artists reviving musical traditions of their ancestors.

Prizes went to special correspondent Natalia Bordilovskaya, chief TV News Agency director Oleg Dolgopolov and head of the Culture News Department Mikhail Revutsky for the TV News Agency documentary series They Sang for the Motherland – a project consisting of ten episodes, each of which explores the history of iconic and well-known songs. The legendary music pieces in the film are performed by a children's choir. They Sang for the Motherland is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation. The popularity of the project has gone far beyond the country, bringing the TV News Agency’s team several prizes at international competitions.

Alexander Lukashenko presented three special awards Belarusian Sports Olympus to a sports journalist, coach Viktor Kapitonov, whose trainees are winners of prestigious competitions and champions in canoeing and kayaking, and London Olympics bronze medalist Marina Litvinchuk, who will represent Belarus at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The award ceremony was followed by a celebratory concert.