500 Years of Belarusian Book Printing

MOSCOW, 8 September (BelTA) - Belarusian publishers have gathered a constellation of awards at the 14th CIS international contest The Art of Book. The awards ceremony was held at the Moscow international book fair on 8 September, BelTA has learned.

The Grand Prix went to the The World Heritage of Francysk Skaryna in Belarusian, Russian and English published (Petrus Brovka Belorusskaya Encyclopedia publishing house). Presenting the award, Executive Director of the CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund Anatoly Iksanov stressed that the 500th anniversary of the Belarusian book printing celebrated in 2017 is a meaningful date not only for Belarus but also for the entire CIS. “Belarusian publishers aspire to preserve and continue the traditions of Francysk Skaryna – to produce qualitative and interesting books,” said Vladimir Andrievich, the director of the the Petrus Brovka Belorusskaya Encyclopedia publishing house.

Under the terms of the contest, the Grand Prix winner gets a special prize from the CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund: financing for an additional print run and distribution of books to the national libraries of the CIS countries.

Belarusian publishers also received awards in all categories of the competition, having won 5 first places, 3 second and 1 third place.

The book “Tsar hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. History pages” (Belarus publishing book) won in the Commonwealth nomination. The first-degree diploma in the nomination My Country went to the album “Traditional Belarusian Costume” (Belorusskaya Nauka publishing house). Ales Pismenkov’s tale (Mastatskaya Literatura publishing house) was recognized the best book for children. The Turov Rapsody (Four Quarters publishing house) was awarded the first prize in the Printed in the Commonwealth nomination. The encyclopedic reference book on the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus was named the best scientific book (Belorusskaya Nauka publishing house).

The second-degree diplomas went to the Belarusian books “Meetings with the Loved Ones” (Zvyazda publishing house; Dialogue of Cultures nomination), “Russian as a Foreign Language” (Aversev; Course Books and Education) and “Fatherland: Illustrated History. From Rogneda to Kosciuszko” (Tekhnologiya publishing house; Art of Illustration nomination).

The third-degree diploma in the Art Book nomination was presented to the collection of proverbs and sayings (Belorusskaya Nauka publishing house). The album Minsk. Nezavisimosti Avenue (Belovagroup publishing house) got a distinction diploma.

The Art of Book is the major contest for the book publishers and typographers of the CIS countries. The contest was first held in 2004 under the auspices of the CIS Interstate Humanitarian Cooperation Fund. The contest is aimed at celebrating the best publishing projects, intensifying cooperation in literature and publishing industry, popularizing the best book achievements and developing a mutual exchange of spiritual and cultural values.

This year the contest featured 87 publications from six countries: Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.