State Awards National Commission nominates 2008 laureates

The State Awards National Commission has announced the results of the contest for conferring the State Prizes for 2008. They have been approved of by the Government and are to be enacted through a presidential decree, Info-Prim Neo reports. The chairman of the Commission, vice prime minister Victor Stepaniuc, says 34 files have been submitted for the contest running from January 1 to April 1, 2008, of which 15 have been selected. The works have been considered by specialty institutions and by at least two independent experts. “The goal of the contest is to stimulate research and innovation, developing and implementing modern technologies, enhancing the competitiveness of the Moldovan intelligentsia, promoting personal performance and appreciating personalities' contribution in developing the national science, culture and art,” Stepaniuc underlined. Thus, the laureates of the State Award for 2008, in the opinion of the Governmental Commission, are to be decreed the composer and academician Eugen Doga, and the writer and academician Ion Druta for their music and prose works. The third laureate is a team researching new technologies in fighting cancer, headed by academician Gheorghe Tabarna. The State Prize is 1 million lei. The contest and the submitted works have stirred controversies within society. Some media said one of the potential candidates would have said he did not present works to the Commission, did not know who granted those awards and which the criteria were and he would not take the state award, even if it might be several million lei, not one million.