2014 

Speech by Ms Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas, at the event to honour the winners of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize 2013 and present their creative achievements at the Seimas

16 February 2014­­­­­­

Ladies and gentlemen,

May I first of all congratulate you on the Day of Restoration of the State of Lithuania. We are a particularly strong and persistent nation, an extremely rich nation.  Having paid a high price for our Independence, having sacrificed so much, we now live in a free state and enjoy equal rights alongside with other nations of the world. We have preserved and cherished our language and our traditions and today we are marching across the world with our tricolor flag raised high, proud of our achievements. We can also regard ourselves rich because over the course of the past decades we have nurtured a big number of prominent personalities – talents who are now promoting the name of Lithuania and who are gemstones of our nation.

May I congratulate the winners of the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize 2013 who have arrived in the Seimas today and those who for various reasons have not been able to participate in the event. You all deserve our biggest respect. I bow my head before you for having given all your heart to creation. I believe you have succeeded because you have been working without sparing yourselves.

The National Prize is the prize from the whole nation to you for your self-devotion to Lithuania. The first National Culture and Art Prize was awarded in 1989 and, consequently, today we are marking its 25th anniversary. The prize is awarded for most significant works of culture and art created by Lithuanian and World Lithuanian Community authors. The National Prize has been already given to almost two hundred prominent artists including painters, film and theatre directors, actors, poets, composers, sculptors, conductors and other professionals of their own field.

This year the National Prize has been allocated to six more artists, who, I believe, truly deserve it. Let us share that joy together. I invite you to an opportunity to learn more about this year’s Prize winners and wishing you a cosy afternoon.

May I sincerely congratulate you and wish you best of luck in promoting the name of Lithuania.