The jury of the 2007 National Dramaturgy Competition – traditional event organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to support the national dramaturgy and theatrical art – selected the winners of the contest, Info-Prim Neo reports. As a result of debates, the jury headed by the theater critic Valentina Tazlauanu decided not to award the first prize of the competition. The second prize worth 9,000 lei went to the dramatist Dumitru Crudu for the play “Last Dwarf of Isle of Wight”. Both of the young authors Alexandru Buruiana and Vitalie Bulat won the third prize worth 7,000 lei for the plays “Tandem” and, respectively, “И была тьма над ними” (“And there Was Darkness over Them”). The prize for début worth 5,000 lei was given to Emanuela Spranceana for the play “Nostalgia for Cuckoo”. Gheorghe Calamanciuc was awarded 2,000 lei for the play “Little Rabbit Poet” and Mihail-Gheorghe Cibotaru won the same amount for the play “No Return to the Past or Betrayal Can Be Forbidden not yet Forgotten”. Thirty-seven dramas took part in the contest. The next edition of the National Dramaturgy Competition will take place in 2009. The prize “Valeriu Cupcea” worth 10,000 lei, which is awarded yearly by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to the most distinguished theater personalities of Moldova, was given to the scene painters Petru Balan of the National Theater “Mihai Eminescu” and Ion Puiu of the National Puppet Theater “Licurici”.