A ceremony that saw award pins and diplomas bestowed upon the 2009 government award laureates in the field of mass media took place at the hall of awards at the House of Russian Government on Wednesday, the Day of the Russian Press.
"You have deserved the awards with your persistent and honest work," Russian Deputy Prime Minister and chief of the governmental staff Sergei Sobyanin said at the award ceremony.
Journalists generally reflect the public sentiments and are a powerful tool to influencing people, he said.
Among the award laureates are five journalists from the Interfax news agency: Vyacheslav Terekhov, First Deputy General Director; Georgy Gulia, Executive Director; Mikhail Shevtsov, General Information Services; Alexei Shtokal, correspondent; and Alexander Veklich, Editor-in-chief, Interfax-South.
According to the resolution by the Russian government dated November 30, 2009, award laureates also included employees from "Sovetskaya Sibir," "Sovetskaya Chuvashiya," "Vyatsky Krai," "TV Center," "Russian Migration," "Literaturnaya Gazeta," "Argumenty I Fakty," the Russian Union of Journalists, and the Old Russian Center for Intellectual and Artistic Development, an autonomous nonprofit organization.
