On October 17, at the premises of the Russian Olympic Committee, a solemn awards ceremony was held presenting the “Voice of Sport” Prize, established by the Russian Association of Sports Commentators (RASC) with the support of the Russian Olympic Committee.
On Luzhnetskaya Embankment, numerous national sports commentators were present, and many had to go back to work once the ceremony had ended – live broadcasts of football matches and other sports disciplines are non-stop over the weekend. The awards ceremony was hosted by TV commentator Roman Skvortsov and three-time Olympic champion in synchronized swimming, TV presenter, actress and politician Maria Kiseleva.
– My friends who are theatre actors advised me never to come to the second performance after the premiere, – joked the President of RASC Gennady Orlov, opening the ceremony. – The first “Voice of Sport” awards ceremony was successfully held on this stage more than a year ago, after which the coronavirus pandemic disrupted all our plans, however, we managed to overcome all difficulties that we encountered. I am happy that our cause lives on.
The President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov sent greetings to all participants and guests. The prize to the first laureate was presented by the ROC Director General Vladimir Sengleev. A statuette in the form of headphones with a microphone was received by Dmitry Guberniev who won the Alexey Burkov award for “Best Commentator in Olympic Sports.”
– Over time, you get used to recognition from the public, but acknowledgement from your colleagues is something that you always enjoy, like the first time, – said Dmitry Guberniev. – Alexey Burkov was an outstanding person. He showed us how to live and work. I am content with the Russian commentary sphere. The most important thing is for sports events to continue!
According to Denis Kazansky, who received the Vadim Sinyavsky award for “Best Sports Commentator according to RASC members”, this was his first personal prize in his entire life.
– The last time I received a prize was with my class at school for collecting waste paper. Today’s award marks a significant and important stage in my life. When I started my sports commentary, I was guided by the principle that I had learnt from my teachers – don’t talk if the silence is much better, – emphasized Denis Kazansky.
The special “Power in Motion” award, established by the Moscow Football Club “Dinamo” to support both amateurs and eminent professionals, was awarded to Yuri Rozanov who continues to fight a serious illness.
– I really wanted to be with you today but my treatment has taken up almost all of my time, – said Yuri Rozanov in his video message. – For the last year and a half I have been watching sports channels quite a lot and I am happy to state that many colleagues have made considerable improvements, so it was not easy for the organizers to choose the winners. Dear colleagues, you are very good at what you do and one can see that you take your time to prepare for the matches. I am proud to have worked with you and I pray to God for the chance to work with you again.
The Vladimir Pereturin award for “Best Football Commentator” went to Konstantin Genich who stressed that this award belonged not only to him, but also to his teachers.
– In this complicated time, it is extremely difficult to win the recognition of the TV audience, and it is a thousand times more difficult to receive acknowledgement from colleagues since now there are numerous commentators and live broadcasts. We will continue with our work, – he said.
The host of the ceremony, Roman Skvortsov, became the winner of the Evgeny Mayorov award for “Best Reporting.”
– It will not be easy to fake surprise as this joyful moment of my receiving the award is spelled out in the script, – the sports commentator joked. – It is a great honour to receive this award. It will take its rightful place at home. Even today Yevgeny Mayorov’s hockey commentary sounds extremely modern in terms of style, tonality and dynamics, as if it happened only yesterday.
Special prizes from RASC partners went to Vladimir Gomelsky, who received the “Voice of the Profession” award highlighting achievements in the field of sports television journalism, and Viktor Gusev who received the “Recognition” award for high professional achievements.
– Initially, we had three important tasks: present awards to the best representatives of the profession, travel around the country and meet with up-and-coming commentators and assist them. We also had in mind to create a fund to support our veterans, – said Viktor Gusev. – We succeeded in our efforts so I can say that we have the upper hand against the coronavirus pandemic. As I said earlier, take care of yourselves and your health.
Winners of awards were also Sergey Kurdyukov (Nikolay Ozerov award for “Best Sports Commentator according to the leaders of sports organizations”), Elizaveta Kozhevnikova (Nina Eremina award for “Female Voice of Sports”), Sergey Krivokharchenko (Vladimir Maslachenko award for “Best Sports Commentator according to sports media”), Anna Dmitrieva and Alexander Metreveli (Sergey Gimaev award for “Best Reporting Duo”).
– Vladimir Maslachenko was a teacher and an idol for all of us, – noted Sergey Krivokharchenko in his video message. – I would like to donate the monetary prize, awarded together with the statuette, to charity foundations that I work with on an ongoing basis. There are numerous problems in the country and in this way, it seems to me, we can deal with them.
Those present paid tribute to the memory of Olympic champion in wrestling and sports commentator Alexander Ivanitsky, who tragically passed away this year, as well as to all colleagues who made a significant contribution to the development of the profession.
In memory of Alexander Ivanitsky, RASC established the special “Voice of Sport is the Country” award, presented to Andrey Adamov representing the TV company “Yamal-region.” The granddaughter of Alexander Ivanitsky, Anna, was awarded a special prize from the Russian Association of Sports Commentators and the ROC.
– My grandfather was a unique person, – said Anna Ivanitskaya. – He is one of the few athletes who received the Eduard Volodin Literary Prize. In recent years, he had been working on the book Broken Ears set to be released in the autumn. This book will be followed by a series of small videos which can be viewed by scanning the QR code on the last page. He called this idea a godsend. I would like to believe that each laureate who wins the “Voice of Sport is the Country” award can also become a discovered talent for the Russian commentary community.
“Match TV” sports commentator Alexey Popov won in the nomination “Popular Voice of Sport.”
Around 150,000 people took part in the voting procedure on the website of the Sport-Express newspaper. – I start my reports with the phrase “Hello, friends!” For me, it is of particular importance as I strive to share with fans what really interests me, – said Alexey Popov.
During the awards ceremony it was announced that a special fund would be set up to support veterans of the Russian commentary community. Thanks to the participation of RASC sponsors and partners, which include the Russian Olympic Committee, target prizes were awarded to Boris Skripko, Vladimir Pisarevsky and Ernest Serebrennikov.
