YEREVAN — Since 1992, the annual Vahan Tekeyan Awards have been held in Armenia to recognize and encourage intellectuals, artists and creative individuals from Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora. This year, on November 2, the Vahan Tekeyan Awards were presented in three categories: Literature, Armenian Studies and Fine Arts.
For the last 20 years, the Tekeyan Awards have been financed entirely by the Tekeyan Cultural Association Central Board of Directors of USA and Canada through its Akabi Shake Gazarian Trust Fund.
The awards ceremony opened with a prayer and the blessing of Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, conveyed to those present by the Very Rev. Asoghik Karapetyan.
The works submitted in the Fine Arts category of the annual Vahan Tekeyan Awards were on display in the exhibition hall of the Tekeyan Center. The jury reviewed works by various artists and selected the winning piece: Rhythms of Silence, a painting by Suren Safaryan.
Henri Cuny, former ambassador of France to Armenia, has always demonstrated a particular affinity for Armenian culture and Armenia. He was selected for the honor for his novel about Komitas, titled Death Does Not Exist, which received the Vahan Tekeyan Prize.
In the Armenian Studies category, the jury selected Artak Maghalyan’s scholarly work The Melikdoms of Artsakh in the 17th–19th Centuries as the best entry.
