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The gala ceremony, timed to coincide with Cultural Professionals’ Day, was held at St Catherine’s Hall in the Kremlin.

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President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev: Friends, prize winners,

The people gathered in this hall are directly involved in our nation’s great, multi-ethnic culture.

I will take this opportunity to congratulate all of you on the upcoming holiday, Cultural Professionals’ Day, which is celebrated on March 25. I wish you all the best.

Today, for the second time, we are awarding in the Kremlin the President’s Prize for young cultural professionals. This is a new tradition, which we initiated recently to supplement the tradition of presenting awards to young scientists. I think it is very useful, as it should show that we have many young talented individuals and that the state gives them its own assessment and supports cultural professionals who are just starting their careers but are already quite famous.

The state’s task is obviously to maintain the best traditions in culture, but at the same time, to encourage new trends, new approaches, to promote creativity and support those who have the talent for brave artistic ideas.

As Head of State, I have said many times that we must do everything to ensure young people achieve their creative potential from a young age, and we must offer the necessary conditions to do this. Access to these kinds of opportunities, to state resources, must be available not only in Moscow, where such resources are widely accessible, but in other towns and cities throughout the country as well, in other federal constituent entities, territories, republics and regions. I think this is particularly important today, because we are at the threshold of some major transformations in our nation, in its economy, politics, and in the humanitarian sector. The only people who can accomplish these changes are the enlightened individuals who embody the best traditions of our great culture, the culture of the peoples populating our country.

”The state’s task is obviously to maintain the best traditions in culture, to encourage new trends, new approaches, to promote creativity and support those who have the talent for brave artistic ideas.“

Our ceremony is designed so that first, the President’s Prize winners are described as they enter, and then the President, perhaps somewhat tediously, continues to describe their accomplishments. But I am not shy about doing it. I hope that nobody will be bored, especially since our winners are worthy of it.

Venera Gimadiyeva is a Bolshoi Theatre soloist, an outstanding representative of the new generation of the Russian school of opera. Now, Venera successfully performs on the renovated historic stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. I hope that this creates additional motivation and a better mood for participating in performances. And of course, it is very important for us that young performers are supporting the supremely high level of our nation’s main theatre.

Mansur Musayev is a talented but still young performer. Granted, these characteristics cannot be contrasted, because there are many young gifted people, as well as middle-aged and mature gifted individuals. Mansur first performed onstage at the age of three, and today, he commendably represents the Chechen art of dance on the world’s most prestigious stages.

The language of dance is wonderful because it is understandable to everyone, regardless of their background or the languages they speak, so Mansur is exactly the kind of ambassador that strengthens mutual understanding among different people.

Arseny Chakrygin is already a well-known architect from Nizhny Novgorod. His projects, including the construction of residential, public buildings and restoration of religious sites, are among the best in the city.

Our environments affect us in different ways. We travel and observe a great deal. If we find ourselves in an architectural environment that is oppressive, or simply spend time in unsettled areas of cities, of which unfortunately there are many, then our moods grow darker. But when our surroundings are pleasing to the eye, it certainly elicits positive emotions. Mr Chakrygin’s city-planning architectural decisions are based on the principles of maintaining historic landscapes, preserving monuments, and at the same time, erecting new buildings.

It is good that our prize-winner takes full advantage of communications capabilities and, as far as I understand, has launched a website that is popular among young architects to discuss various issues that concern professional architecture community. This is also terrific, because new forms of communications are the future.

Friends, discovering talents early, creating full-fledged conditions for their implementation – these things are important for the most gifted individuals as well as the success of our nation, our society. That is precisely why today, within the framework of the instructions I issued, we are designing a special strategy for a Russian national system for discovering and developing young people’s talents. Its goal is to give young talents the chance to manifest themselves, and help the state find such talents and lay the foundation for further professional growth.

I believe that our ceremony has another highly important, educational aspect, a promotional aspect. It must help other young people believe in their strengths, to implement their ideas. I am referring to musicians, artists, writers and directors.

I would like to once again sincerely congratulate the winners. I wish you all success.

Let’s begin the award ceremony.

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Our winners are fantastic; they are not shy or embarrassed. I understand that it can be difficult to make this kind of speech in the presence of so many people in the Kremlin, but it makes your words that much more valuable. I truly wish you happiness and success in all your creative endeavours.

You are already accomplished individuals, and that is precisely why you have received this prize, even though you are still young. I am certain that your best days are still ahead of you. But at the same time, I would like to once again state that the very fact of receiving this prize will serve as an example to an enormous number of our nation’s citizens who live near you or in other places. And I am certain that you will continue to represent our country honourably within our own state and in the international arena.

I wish you great success in your art. Well done!