They still get a grasp of children’s writers – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

Summing up the results of the annual award named after Korney Chukovsky caused a conflict. Since 2020, writers who are laureates of the award established by the city authorities have received 1 million rubles each. for the best books for children under 12. But instead of announcing the current list of laureates, the acceptance of applications for the award was unexpectedly extended until the spring of 2023. Several writers left the competition jury in protest. In the structures of the Department of Culture of Moscow, the extension of the campaign is explained by requests from the regions. Officials could not be satisfied with the choice of the jury, since “now all cultural processes in Russia are extremely politicized,” the expert believes.

The Korney Chukovsky Moscow Government Prizes have been awarded since 2020. The event is hosted by the city’s Department of Culture, and the awards are for art for children under 12. In Russia, there are few awards for authors of children’s literature, one of the applicants for the award told Kommersant, the initiative of the city authorities quickly became authoritative in the writing environment, including thanks to solid payments – 1 million rubles each. each of the seven winners. The next ceremony was planned to be held in October 2022. But officials announced the postponement of the delivery to a later date, and in mid-December, the extension of the application campaign for 2023. Moreover, this happened after the publication of the shortlist of applicants. The decision caused a demarche: some of the jury members, including translator and poetess Marina Boroditskaya and translator Olga Varshaver, announced their withdrawal from this body. At the same time, Ms Warsawer also withdrew her translation of Kate Di Camillo’s book The Prophecy of Beatrice, which was shortlisted for this year, from the competition.

In 2022, the Korney Chukovsky Prizes were to be awarded in six categories. The competition selected the best prose for children under 7 years old and from 8 to 12 years old, as well as the best poems and the best translation of foreign books for the same age categories. The selection is carried out by a jury of writers, poets and translators, headed by children’s writer Andrei Usachev. The great-grandson of Korney Chukovsky, writer Dmitry Chukovsky, is the co-chairman. The winner in the seventh nomination – “The best work for children” – was chosen by the townspeople in the course of voting in the “Active Citizen”.

One of the award jury members, who asked not to be named in the media, said that “the decision (of the authorities.— “b”) is incomprehensible to themselves,” but he knows nothing about its causes.

Another jury member, who also asked not to be named, claims that the list of six laureates was ready in October 2022. “Everything was ready, but there was a ban on further actions on the award until further notice. Now it seems that the chosen laureates somehow did not please, ”added the jury member. The alleged list of laureates was published on social networks, which included Anna Anisimova with the book “My Home Iceberg”, Alexander Kiselev (“Pirates Lived and Sailed”) and Elena Mamontova (“When Dragons Gather in a Flock”).

The Moscow Department of Culture explained the extension of the application campaign until April 30, 2023 by “expanding the geography of the competition” and receiving “an unprecedented large number of requests from authors and publishers” with a request for such an extension.

In the state budgetary institution Mosrazvitie subordinated to the department, Kommersant clarified that in July-October 2022, 85 such requests were received.

It is noteworthy that in July 2022, the capital’s vice-mayor Natalya Sergunina announced the receipt of a record number of 989 applications (from 101 cities of the Russian Federation) for the award. The Moscow Department of Culture did not answer the question about the authenticity of the published list of laureates in 2022. Kommersant asked about the attitude of officials to the demarche of the jury members. The depcult advised me to apply to Mosrazvitie, and there, in response, they only listed the list of current members of the selection body. When asked whether the decision was related to the accession of new territories to the Russian Federation, the department and Mosrazvitie did not answer.

Literary critic Nikolai Podosokorsky calls the officials’ decision “unprecedented and dubious from all points of view.” “After all, the award is annual, so those “who did not have time to apply” could do it next season. Most likely, someone was not satisfied with the names of the laureates chosen by the jury, since now the cultural processes in Russia have become extremely politicized, ”he believes.

Alexander Voronov