The ‘Karic Brothers’ Award Laureates in 2008

Mrs OLGA OLJA IVANJICKI, painter

In the early sixties, Olja Ivanjicki carried out the first performance ever in Belgrade in front of the Graphic Collective Gallery. The award was conferred upon Olja Ivanjicki for the everlasting trace that her work has left in Serbian fine art and the immense influence that she has had on the Medijala art group, and consequently our fine art and our culture as a whole, particularly the lyric painting with renaissance leaning.

Extract from the winner’s speech:
“… I am grateful for this award, as it always seems to come at the right time. Eleven years ago, I received a thoughtful letter from the Karic Foundation where I was asked for an advice regarding what should the foundation’s next step be, and how it should take part in the life of our society in the best possible way. I answered that it should support art in the role of a patron.
What I have also said in that letter was that the timeless formula for success is permanence. I thank you for your intention to last.”

Mr SINIŠA KOVAČEVIĆ, dramatist, scriptwriter, director

Sinisa Kovacevic, a man who transforms life into art, a Serbian writer, dean of the BK Arts Academy for the second consecutive term, and a drama professor who educates and cares about young writers with great pleasure. Each drama of Sinisa Kovacevic is great, be it for the theatre, television or film, for adults or for children. His dramas raise some serious questions but also represent a valuable testimony for the future reviewers and historians.

Extract from the winner’s speech:
“‘… I have spent the entire afternoon trying to memorize the names of all the previous laureates whose company I am joining tonight owing to the jury, and to the Karic family. I have been worried whether I will be up to this task, but then St Djorde, our family’s patron saint, has given me confidence to be here before you. Amongst the many congratulatory messages that I have received regarding the Karic Brothers Award, are the ones sent by the people from Gracanica, Kosovska Mitrovica, etc. Those people are close to my heart and that of Serbia. Kosovo is Serbia.”

Academician Mr Prof. Dr. SVETOMIR IVANOVIĆ

Prof. Dr. Svetomir Ivanovic has published over 130 specialized and scientific papers in home and foreign journals; he wrote three books and monographs, and was a co-author of four books. The twenty thousand operations that he has performed, out of which the majority were open-brain surgeries, are considered an artistic virtuosity. He was born in Pec, where he finished high school, and he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade.
Prof. Svetomir Ivanovic became an honorary member of the neurosurgeon association of Latin America in 1996, and a correspondence member of the Montenegrin Academy of Science and Arts in 2004.

Extract from the winner’s speech:
“… It is not easy to live up to such a prestigious award, particularly when one is in company of renowned people from the field of culture, science, arts and wisdom, from both our country and abroad. I thank Bogoljub Karic, creator of this prestigious award, for following the old tradition of Serbian benefaction that has lasted since the Nemanjic period; he succeeded in drawing attention to people that promote and contribute to the progress of civilization, and even more of their nation. I am sorry to say that he is not present this evening. His temporary absence is caused by the conflict of his visionary views with the backward mindset. However, the great always return.”

Mr ZAHARIJE TRNAVČEVIĆ, journalist

Zaharije Trnavcevic, a journalist since 1948 and a man who has witnessed almost an entire century, has celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his career.
The award was conferred upon him for the immense and selfless contribution to the development of journalism, agriculture, and the countryside in the Balkans. He believes that love is a special amalgam that has an anti-ageing effect, makes work easier and improves people. He trusts people, and divides them into good ones, and those that still aren’t. He passes down his knowledge that leads to progress, and his experience that directs towards true values that we should always cherish.

Extract from the winner’s speech:
“‘…I am grateful to the honoured Mrs Karic and the esteemed members of the executive board that have evaluated my work, and appreciated my sixty-year long career as a journalist. I thank them for also acknowledging the period, when I was travelling across Serbia visiting farmers in the countryside, and reporting about their hardship as well as joy, about their success, hopes and their potentiality. I am very proud that I share the company of great Serbian strivers who are the pride of Serbia, and are internationally recognised. It is a great honour, and I hope to live up to it. Receiving an award is a great experience, but it also sets a standard that must not be let down, but only improved.”

Mr NIKITA MIKHALKOV, actor and director

There are people that are predestined for a great artistic career even prior to their birth. They carry uniqueness and the core of what they are to become in their genes and their upbringing. Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov represents one such story. His film career is clustered with awards such as the Gold Lion, Palm D’Or, the Oscar, various Russian state awards, and all sorts of honours starting from Venice and Cannes, and all the way to Hollywood. Film titles such as Dark Eyes, Urga, Burnt by the Sun, The Barber of Siberia, and ’12’, are just a part of the magnificent work of the film maker Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov, who has established himself as one of the most renowned artists of our time.

Extract from the winner’s speech:
“… The Karic Brothers Award represents a special joy. I am grateful to you for this exceptional delight. However, I wish to ask you something altogether different. Why do you all look so gloomy? I fully understand and feel everything… However, as long as one has faith, a live mother tongue, a history, culture and tradition, there is no need to worry. Europe is under the impression that if it unites the 15 ‘aged ones’, it will get a ‘young one’ in return. That is wrong. It could only represent a good nursing home. You are still young; therefore do not hurry with the aim of booking a room on that ship. You have a bright prospect, and everything will turn out all right. Godspeed!”