YEREVAN — The 27th Vahan Tekeyan Awards ceremony of the Tekeyan Cultural Association (TCA), supported by the Shake Tekeyan-Ghazarian Fund of the TCA of the United States and Canada, took place on October 8 at the Tekeyan Center. These annual awards, the first of which took place in 1991, recognize and encourage the best work in various fields of Armenian culture. During its existence, more than 100 worthy individuals have been recognized. This year, Edmond Y. Azadian, president of the TCA of the United States and Canada, and president of the TCA of Armenia Rouben Mirzakhanyan, spoke at the event, and many Armenian intellectuals and writers were present at the ceremonies for six categories of awards. This year there were approximately 70 applicants from which the awards committee had to choose.
Archbishop Natan Hovhannisyan gave his blessing to the ceremony, and conveyed greetings from Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.
Artavazd Nazaryan received the award in the field of literature for his collections of poetry titled Arvartzan [Suburb] and Ughepagots [Barrier].
Professor Arman Yeghiazaryan, doctor in the field of history, received the award for Armenology for his work Ashot III Voghormats Tagavor Hayots [Ashot III the Merciful King of Armenia].
In the field of drama, the winner was Professor Armen Elbakyan, Honored Figure in the Field of Art of the Republic of Armenia, for his staging of “Trichk kkui bni vrayov” [One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest].
In the category of the visual arts, the award was bestowed upon People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia Anatoli Avetyan for his creation “Erebuni-Yerevan-2800.”
