Union State Award to be presented to Gleb Gorbovsky on 21 December

         The 2011-2012 Union State Award in Literature and Art will be presented to poet Gleb Gorbovsky in Saint Petersburg on 21 December. The award will be handed over by State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota. Two persons became the Union State Award laureates in 2011-2012. People’s Artist of Belarus Georgy Poplavsky received the award in the summer during the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk. However, Gleb Gorbovsky could not attend the awarding ceremony for health reasons. Alongside with the awarding ceremony in Saint Petersburg, the Union State Permanent Committee will hold a roundtable session to give start to the nominations for the Union State Award for 2013-2014. The roundtable session will discuss ways to step up cooperation of Belarusian and Russian artistic unions to nominate entries for the Union State Award. The Union State Award in Literature and Art is usually bestowed upon three persons once in two years. However, the number of laureates might be reduced by the award founders.