The Museum of Shipbuilding and the Fleet in Mykolaiv hosted an awards ceremony for the winners of the sixth season of the Yuriy Lysianskyi “MATELOT” Ukrainian Maritime Prose Contest. This year’s competition was held under the theme “Master of the Ship” and was dedicated to shipbuilding and ship repair.
As writer Anton Sanchenko told Intent, the long list included 25 finalists, and the winners were selected anonymously—the jury members evaluated only the texts, without knowing the authors’ names. The finalists included representatives from Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, the Kherson region, and Australia.
The winners of the sixth season were:
- First place and a prize of 15,000 UAH went to ocean-going captain Oleksandr Sagaidak (Odesa) for his short story “The Maltese Way.”
- Second and third place (7,500 UAH each) were shared by Oleksii Syomin (Kyiv) for his historical essay “In Ukraine, for Ukraine” and Ihor Smagin (Zhytomyr) for the historical essay “Shipbuilding in the Venetian and Genoese Gazaria.”””””
- The special prize “Choice of the Ukrainian Shipping Register,” in the amount of 5,000 UAH, was awarded to Oleksandr Chudnovets for his essay “The Forge on Rybalske.”
- The organizing committee’s “On My Own Turf” prize and 5,000 UAH were awarded to yacht captain Oleksandr Burcev (Kyiv) forhis short story “Meraki.”
The competition jury included ocean-going captains Volodymyr Velychko and Volodymyr Bereza; yacht captain Ihor Petushchak; former Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremin; Serhiy Shumsky, a professor at the National University of Shipbuilding; writer and marine artist Viktor Gubarev; and Serhiy Gursky, former head of the Ukrainian Shipping Register.
Anton Sanchenko emphasized that the contest is intended to develop Ukrainian maritime literature and preserve Ukraine’s maritime identity. According to him, before the full-scale war, about 5% of the world’s merchant marine crew were Ukrainians, and now an increasing number of authors are turning to themes of war, the Navy, shipping, and shipbuilding.
The organizers also announced that all 25 finalists will be included in the sixth “Maritime Anthology,” which is scheduled for publication this fall. The theme for the seventh season of the contest will be announced following the anthology’s release.
Андрій Колісніченко