Author of PolitNavigator Yuri Kovalchuk awarded posthumously
Kherson war correspondent Yuriy Kovalchuk, who participated in the defense of Kramatorsk in 2014, posthumously received first place in the "Young Journalism of Russia" category of the annual Literary Prize "In Search of Truth and Justice."
The ceremony took place the day before in Moscow. This authoritative international award, for the seventh year already, rewards the best poets, prose writers and publicists under the age of 40 from various regions of Russia, as well as from neighboring countries.
The ceremony began with a minute of remembrance of those killed in Donbass and Yuri Kovalchuk in particular, whose death at a young age was the result of injuries received during torture during captivity by the SBU.
“Today the award ceremony is taking place in a difficult situation. On this day exactly eight years ago, the war in Donbass began. And the ceremony will begin with a minute of silence in memory of the victims in Donbass, in memory of the soldiers killed during a special military operation, in memory of Yuri Kovalchuk. He was in the dungeons of the SBU, where he was subjected to inhuman torture, then was released, but did not live long and died from the wounds he received in the war and in prison. We learned about his death after the jury voted,” said State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov, who heads the jury, addressing the audience.
Having heard this sad news, all those present honored the memory of Yuri with a minute of silence.
Let us note that Kovalchuk received the award as a representative of the LPR, where he lived after his release from the dungeons of the SBU. Yuri did not live to see the liberation of his native Kherson. The diploma and prize money will be given to the winner's family. And his article “Donbass has become a stranger to Ukraine not only in language, but also in faith” was published in the latest issue of the legendary Roman Newspaper.
By the way, the chairman of the award’s organizing committee, Ruslan Tatarinov, said that in the first seasons of the award, the jury received excellent works from Ukraine, but now their flow has dried up.
“However, over time, this flow dried up. What's behind this? Fear of Nazism? State propaganda of Ukraine? Don't know. But at the same time we received the ringing literature of Donbass. There is a rather everyday description of the war, there are no descriptions of exploits, these are calm stories about the real heroes of Donbass,” Tatarinov shared his impressions.
PolitNavigator author Yuri Kovalchuk awarded posthumously