Anna Akhmatova Memorial Poetry Contest winners determined in Odesa

International Anna Akhmatova Memorial Lyrical Poetry Contest was held in Odesa. It was attended by poets from Ukraine, Russia, Israel, and Australia, vsiknygy.net.ua reports, citing the press office of the Odesa City Council. The jury consisted of Yevgeny Rein from Moscow and Odesites Ihor Pototsky and Viktor Mamontov. Maryna Chiianova and Yevhen Holubenko represented Odesa in the final, while The Golden Nike Almanac Award certificates went to Russia, Israel, and Australia. However, nobody got the first place in the contest. Several Odesa poets had competed for the Audience Award which finally went to Iryna Kornetova who was solemnly presented with Akhmatova’s Selected Works volume and the diploma after the audience’s votes had been counted.

Her poems will be published in the next issue of The Golden Nike. The issue will be supplemented with the book of poems by Zhanna Zharova, Oleh Malonoha, Olha Lesovikova, Serhii Kurkin and the youngest contestant Clara Melamed who besides reading her poems showed her talents as an accompanist, composer, singer and master of impromptu performance. The audience listened to poems and songs in Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, and Italian. Akhmatova’s poems were read by the Odesa Philharmonic Society artist Olena Kuklova. The contestants and audience were shown video images of some photos from the great poet’s family archive.