The Biela Vrana, White Crow Awards for civic courage and defense of the public good were presented on Tuesday evening for the eighteenth time.
This year’s laureates include three former employees of the Slovak National Gallery (SNG), Bohdana Hromádková, Klára Hudáková and Veronika Němcová. White Crows for lifetime contributions were awarded to psychologist Anton Heretik, and Otto Šimko.
According to the organizers, the stories of the laureates are connected by relevance and value messages for current challenges.
Bohdana Hromádková, Klára Hudáková and Veronika Němcová became laureates as symbolic representatives of the management and employees of the SNG and the civic-cultural groups Open Culture, Art Will Not Be Silent and the Free National Gallery.
The trio received the White Crow for "saving and defending the expertise, institutional freedom and integrity of the SNG, one of the most important cultural institutions of the Slovak Republic, after the politically motivated dismissal of Alexandra Kusá from the post of director of the SNG".
Psychologist Anton Heretik was awarded a White Crow for his long-term contributions. The organizers highlighted him as an exceptional figure in Slovak psychology, who has long shaped the public perception of the importance of mental health for the quality of life of individuals and society as a whole.
In addition to his exceptional professional influence on public discourse, he received the award "also for his ongoing civic engagement and courage to enter the public debate with an important professional, factual and value-based voice at key moments in Slovak history, while always maintaining professional ethics."
The laureate for lifetime achievement was 101-year-old Otto Šimko. He received the White Crow for his persistent courage in defending the values of freedom and democracy. "As a young man, he stood up against Nazism with a gun in his hand during the Slovak National Uprising. He was a critic of the communist regime, which considered him an enemy person and deprived him of his job. The fate of the country and the world in which he lives is not unimportant to him, even at 101 years old. Within his capabilities, he participates in public debates and supports Ukraine," the organizers said.
"Few lives are so severely tested by historical challenges, and few people persevere so consistently in defending the values of freedom and democracy. This makes him very inspiring today, especially with his message that all regimes are temporary," explained Daniel Pastirčák, a member of the White Crow Council, explaining the reasons for choosing the laureate Otto Šimko.
The White Crow is an award for a socially beneficial and courageous civic act. It is awarded as a thank you to the rare people who are willing to defend truth and justice, have demonstrated civic courage through concrete actions, have suppressed personal interests in the name of public benefit, values or principles, and may have taken risks, suffered various hardships, or experienced condemnation.
Source: TASR
