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Putin to award State Prizes for 2013

The awarding ceremony will be traditionally held at the Big Kremlin Palace

MOSCOW, June 12 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will award on Thursday, the Day of Russia, State Prizes for 2013 in the areas of science and technology, literature and arts, and humanitarian activities, the Kremlin press service said.

The awarding ceremony will be traditionally held at the Big Kremlin Palace.

State Prizes for 2013 in were conferred on eight outstanding people of science and culture. Thus, prizes in the area of literature and arts were awarded to: Anton Zlatopolsky and Leonid Vereshchagin (film producers) and Nikolai Lebedev (film director) for Legend No 17 film; writer and patriarch of Russian literature Fazil Iskander; and world-acclaimed musician Yuri Bashmet.

Prizes in the area of science and technology were awarded to scientists Anatoly Grigoryev for the development and practical implementation of the system of medical care for space crews during long space flights, and Viktor Maslov, a world-acclaimed mechanical engineer and mathematician, for the contribution to the development of mathematical fundamentals of thermodynamics. “Achievements of these scientists have tremendous significance for the development of science and technologies,” Andrei Furskenko, an aide to the Russian president, said earlier.

The State Prize for humanitarian activities in 2013 was awarded by Yevgeny Primakov, a prominent public figure and diplomat. According to Fursenko, the decision to award the State Prize to Primakov “was practically unanimous.”

The State Prize signifies supreme recognition of the merits of science and culture professionals to society and the state. It is the main Russian prize which inherited the name in 1992 from the State Prize of the RSFSR, a former Soviet republic. In its current format, the system of State Prizes was finally formed in 2004-2006: four State Prizes in the area of science and technologies, three State Prizes in the area of literature and arts and one State Prize in the area of humanitarian activities are awarded every year.

A winner receives a monetary reward of five million roubles (145,550 U.S. dollars), a certificate, a badge of honour, as well as a dress coat sign. If success in this or that field of endeavour has been achieved through the efforts of several persons, the State Prize may be awarded to a team consisting of not more than three members. In that case the money reward is shared equally among the team members.

A ceremony marking the presentation of State Prizes is traditionally held in the Kremlin on the Day of Russia, June 12, with President attending.