Serhiy Bukovskyi is a Ukrainian documentary film director, actor, and representative of the critical school of Ukrainian documentary filmmaking. People's Artist of Ukraine (2008), winner of the Order of Merit III degree (2021). Laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine (2004) for the 9-episode telefilm "War. Ukrainian account" (2003). In 2017, he received the First National Film Award "Golden Dzyga" for the film "Main Role" in the nomination for "Best Documentary". In 2023, the film "Ivan and Marta" premiere about the couple Ivan and Marta Dzyub took place — the director has been working on the film since 2018. In total, the creative work of the laureate includes more than 40 films, including the movie "The Living" (2008) about Ukrainians who survived the Holodomor of 1932-1933. In 2014, Serhiy Bukovsky created the Workshop.doc — a documentary film workshop for young filmmakers.

"The 60s, whose cohort included Vasyl Stus, did everything to make the Independence that Ukraine won a reality," said Serhii Bukovsky in his speech during the award ceremony. Talented. It's nice to realize that my young colleagues make real movies today and bring world knowledge about our culture to the world."

Laudation — a speech about the contribution and role of the laureate — was delivered by Ukrainian film critic, film expert, and screenwriter Serhii Trimbach.

"Serhiy Bukovsky's films document reality and philosophically interpret it on the highest worldview and emotional registers. The history of Ukraine appears in Bukovsky in the context of world problems, revealing the most dramatic episodes of the people's life through bright, truthful human personalities deeply rooted in the large and small historical space and time," emphasized Serhii Trimbach during the award ceremony.

The winner of the Vasyl Stus Prize received a monetary award and a statuette designed by designer Dmytro Pokrasyon and sculptor Stanislav Kadochnikov.

"Culture and education should be recreated by the next generations, laying the foundation. There should be tuning for people who can do this, understanding the current contexts. Such features are characteristic of the actors who receive the Vasyl Stus Prize," said the director of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, Oleksandr Savruk, a member of the jury of the Vasyl Stus Prize.

"Culture and education should recreate the next generations and lay the foundation. There must be tuning for people who can do this by understanding the relevant contexts. Such features are characteristic of figures who receive the Vasyl Stus Award."

The leading information partner of the event was the "Espresso" TV channel. The ceremony was conducted by Ilona Dovgan, host of the KYIV24 TV channel.

The Vasyl Stus Award is one of the oldest Ukrainian awards in the field of culture. In 1989, it was founded by the Ukrainian Association of Independent Creative Intelligentsia, headed by Yevhen Sverstyuk. Since 2016, the Ukrainian PEN, the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, and the publishing house "Spirit and Litera" have continued this initiative.

The Vasyl Stus Prize is awarded annually to writers, artists, directors, musicians, cultural managers, and public figures for contributing to Ukrainian culture and citizenship sustainability.

Since its inception, more than 70 Ukrainian artists have received the Award, including Opanas Zalivakha, Mykhailyna Kotsiubynska, Vasyl Ovsienko, Ivan Svitlichnyi, Myroslav Marynovych, Yevhen Zakharov, Volodymyr Vyatrovych, Maria Burmaka, Sashko Polozhinsky, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Taras Kompanichenko, Oleksandra Koval, Serhii Zhadan, Borys Gudziak, Vlad Troitskyi, Akhtem Seitablaev, Taras Wozniak, Vitaly Portnikov.

Candidates for this year's Prize were nominated by a jury consisting of Myroslav Marynovych — chairman of the jury, publicist, founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, honorary president of the Ukrainian PEN; Olya Hnatiuk — researcher, professor of the National Academy of Sciences and the University of Warsaw; Volodymyr Yermolenko — philosopher, journalist, writer, president of Ukrainian PEN; Yuriy Prokhasko — essayist, translator; Vitaly Portnikov — journalist, publicist, laureate of the 2022 Vasyl Stus Prize; Oleksandr Savruk — Dean of the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School; Eleonora Solovei — literary critic; Leonid Finberg is the editor-in-chief of the "Spirit and Litera" publishing house.

Ukrainian PEN is a cultural and human rights public organization that unites Ukrainian journalists, writers, scientists, publishers, translators, and human rights defenders. It is one of the 146 national centers of the International PEN. The activities of the Ukrainian PEN aim to protect freedom of speech and authors' rights, popularize Ukrainian literature and culture, defend the values and standards of independent journalism, and establish international cultural cooperation.

Kyiv-Mohyla Business School [kmbs] is a school for leaders who seek change in themselves, their companies, the country, and the world. Its creators, teachers, and graduates believe that the breakthrough development of the participants of the educational programs of KMBSH will lead to high-quality a jump in the development of companies, and therefore of our country and the world as a whole.