FOCUS ON PHILATELY: Flowers tops in Narbut Prize vote (09/02/01)

FOCUS ON PHILATELY

by Ingert Kuzych

Flowers tops in Narbut Prize vote

The final results of the balloting for the 2001 Narbut Prize for the best-designed Ukrainian stamp of last year are in, and the winner is the spectacular souvenir sheet depicting Wildflowers of Ukraine (Figure 1). With so many excellent philatelic designs released in 2000, it was expected that the voting would be very close. However, the floral souvenir sheet finished well ahead and garnered 24 percent of the ballots, 11 percentage points better than the second-place finisher, an equally striking souvenir sheet of St. Volodymyr the Great (Figure 2).

As has been the pattern of recent years, four stamp issues ended up dominating the voting. In third place, with 12 percent of the votes, was the Ukrainian Easter egg (pysanky) souvenir sheet (Figure 3), while in fourth place (11 percent) were the 2000 stamp issues of the ongoing Ukrainian Kozak Hetmans series (Figure 4), which last year depicted Hetmans Danylo Apostol (1654-1734) and Ivan Samoilovych (?- 1690). No other stamp release received more than 6 percent of the votes.

Souvenir sheets, remain a very popular format with the voting public. This was the fourth year in a row that such a sheet finished ahead in the competition. However, unlike the previous three years, this year's winner did not depict a historical topic.

The designer of this charming and unusual floral philatelic release is Kateryna Shtanko. She will receive the $250 Narbut Prize honorarium and a special award certificate. Ms. Shtanko is only the second female designer to win the prize since its inception in 1993.

The Narbut Prize is now recognized as the premiere philatelic art award in Ukraine. A record number of votes was received this year from Ukraine (some 55 percent of all participants), spurred in part by the fact that e-mail ballots were accepted for the first time. Interestingly, the Ukrainian ballots slightly favored the Ukrainian Hetmans stamps more than the floral or pysanky souvenir sheets. In voting from the rest of the world, though, the Wildflowers were by far the favorite issue.

This year's winning design is unusual in that it is composed of 10 stamps, considerably more than the two, three or four typically found on most souvenir sheets. Since each stamp is valued at 30 kopiyky, the total value for the sheet is 300 kopiyky or 3 hryvni (about 50 cents U.S.). Only 50,000 of these sheets were printed, about the same as for most recent Ukrainian souvenir sheets. Because of its new status as the Narbut Prize winner, however, and because of its obvious beauty and collectability, it would not be surprising if this particular item becomes more highly sought and eventually increases in value.

The souvenir sheet is meant to highlight the natural beauty of Ukraine, both floral and human. Flowers are often used to adorn Ukrainian women, particularly at festivals or celebrations. Six of the depicted wildflowers compose the floral wreath worn by a hazel-eyed young lady. (Such dark-colored eyes [kari ochi] are frequently lauded in Ukrainian song and poetry.)

Starting in the upper left, the flowers in the oversized headdress are marigolds (chornobryvtsi), camomile (romashka), hollyhocks (malva) and the field poppy (mak). The middle left stamp shows periwinkle minor (barvinok). This plant has a special significance at Ukrainian weddings, as wreaths of periwinkle are made for both the bride and groom. The middle right stamp displays the last flower in the headdress, the bachelor's button or cornflower (voloshka). It is frequently used to decorate wedding wreaths.

The remaining four wildflowers making up the "field" in front of the central figure are: morning glory (krucheni panychi), lilies (lileya), peonies (pivonia) and bluebells (dzvonyky).

Readers wishing to examine all of last year's stamps (or the issues from any year) in full color may do so online at The Ukrainian Electronic Stamp Album (www.compusmart.ab.ca/vesna/menu.htm). Click on 2000 or on any other year's issues you may wish to check out.

Ingert Kuzych may be contacted at P.O. Box 3, Springfield, VA 22150 or at his e-mail address: ingert@starpower.net.

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