FOCUS ON PHILATELY
by Ingert Kuzych
Record vote taps "Korol Danylo" as No. 1
A record number of voters took part in this year's Narbut Prize balloting that selected the Korol (King) Danylo souvenir sheet as the best-designed philatelic release of 2001 (see Figure 1). Amazingly, more than 80 percent of the hundreds of votes this year came from Ukraine, continuing a trend of heavy input from abroad begun last year.
In 2001, for the first time, voters could select their preferences online from the popular Ukrainian Electronic Stamp Album of Bohdan Hrynyshyn in Edmonton. This new opportunity also contributed to the splendid participation rate. In all, the Korol Danylo souvenir sheet nabbed 17 percent of the votes, 3 percentage points over the runner-up, Ukrainian Folk Costumes Issue (Figure 2). The strong preference for these two issues was exhibited by voters in both Ukraine and the rest of the world. Although the choice was about evenly split among voters from Ukraine, participants from other countries pushed the Danylo sheet to the forefront.
Additional substantial votes went to the Hetmans of Ukraine stamps, 12 percent (Figure 3) and the 10th Anniversary of Independence souvenir sheet, 9 percent (Figure 4). The Dmytro Bortniansky stamp received 7 percent of the vote, while the Black Sea Fauna and Beekeeping souvenir sheet issues claimed 6 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Almost every stamp or souvenir sheet issue received some votes.
The Narbut Prize is now recognized as the premiere philatelic art award in Ukraine. All of the past winners of the prize were depicted in color on the cover of the March-April 2002 issue of Filatelia Ukrainy. This government-sponsored journal, published by Ukraine Post, is the leading philatelic periodical in Ukraine.
Souvenir sheets continue to be very popular philatelic items in Ukraine. This was the fifth year in a row that such a sheet finished first in the competition, and four of these five sheets have depicted historical themes.
Readers wishing to examine all of last year's stamps (or the issues from any year) in full color, may do so online at the Ukrainian Electronic Stamp Album http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/vesna/menu.htm, or http://www.ukrainian-philately.info/. Click on 2001 or on any other year's issues you may wish to check out.
The winning design
This year's winning design depicted the famous king of Halych (Galicia) and Volyn (ruled 1238-1264; King of Rus' from 1253) riding a white charger at the head of his troops. A golden lion on a blue banner unfurls behind him, while in the background are the wooden walls of the newly built city of Lviv, named for Danylo's son Lev and founded about 1256.
Danylo, one of medieval Ukraine's greatest rulers, was able to first unite the western Ukrainian lands (Halych and Volyn) and eventually to rule over all of Rus' from Kyiv. The pope himself sent him a crown recognizing him as king in 1253. It is this crown that is the most prominent and intriguing part of the souvenir sheet as it is embossed in gold foil and immediately draws the viewer's eye.
The crown has drawn a bit of mild criticism from a few who state that no ruler would march off to battle wearing his royal regalia. While this is certainly true, the depiction does not have to be interpreted in a warlike vein. Danylo could just as easily be leading his troops in a parade, where wearing a crown would be quite appropriate. Besides, I'm certain the artist meant the portrait to be more of a symbolic rendering of this renowned ruler rather than an exact portrayal.
About the designer
The designer of the Danylo stamp is Oleksii Shtanko. His Yaroslav the Wise souvenir sheet won the Narbut Prize in 2000, while his St. Volodymyr sheet came in second last year. Mr. Shtanko was supposed to eventually complete an entire series on Ukrainian monarchs, but he died of cancer recently, leaving behind a wife and young son. It was Kateryna, his wife, who won last year's Narbut Prize for her charming and unusual souvenir sheet portrayal of Ukrainian wildflowers. The $250 prize honorarium will be presented to her in lieu of her husband.
Mr. Shtanko had also been responsible for another very popular stamp series - that depicting Famous Ukrainian Women. In all he designed 30 stamps and souvenir sheets, most of which were portraits. His unique and attractive style will be sorely missed.
Apparently Mr. Shtanko was a strong admirer of Korol Danylo. He also designed the special cachets that appeared on some of his first day covers, and in 1999 he designed the stamp marking the 800th anniversary of the Galician-Volynian State. The cachet on this first day cover showed Danylo proudly giving his son Lev a ride on his shoulder before the ramparts of ancient Lviv (Figure 5). This colorful depiction proved to be very popular.
A list of past winners
The Narbut Prize has been awarded annually since 1993 for the best-designed stamp of the previous year (Ukraine resumed stamp production only in 1992). Below are the winners of the Narbut Prize since its inception:
Ingert Kuzych may be contacted at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150 or at his e-mail address: [email protected].
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 1, 2002, No. 35, Vol. LXX
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