When comedian Roman Hryshchuk ran for parliament in 2019, he used his title as Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 Award winner in his campaign.
“I did use the fact I got on the list in the election campaign,” Hryshchuk told the Kyiv Post. “For many, it was a positive sign.”
Hryshchuk became one of the 30 young leaders honored by the Kyiv Post’s annual award in 2017 for his contribution to the development of comedy and cinema in Ukraine.
Just two years later, he got elected to the parliament with President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ruling 244-member Servant of the People party. He is now a member of the parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Innovation.
Hryshchuk communicates inside parliament’s walls with other Top 30 Under 30 winners, who also went on to become lawmakers.
“We talked about how cool it is that we all were on Kyiv Post’s list and now work together in the parliament,” Hryshchuk said.
The Kyiv Post launched the Top 30 Under 30 Awards in 2016 to celebrate young Ukrainian leaders from all walks of life. A total of 150 young Ukrainians have been honored so far.
As the time to announce a new round of winners draws near, the Kyiv Post is calling for nominations. Anyone can submit a candidate until Oct. 20.
Open nominations
Our readers nominate leaders and intellectuals who bring positive initiatives to their community. Those chosen are awarded for their accomplishments in art, business, politics, technology, sports, fashion, civil activism and more.
Previous winners include Olympic medalists, artists, members of parliament, LGBTQ+ rights activists, entrepreneurs and regional leaders who are transforming their communities.
Nominations are accepted in both English and Ukrainian. Candidates may be submitted through the Kyiv Post website.
Due to COVID‑19 quarantine restrictions, the award ceremony in 2020 presented prizes to the winners at a live-streamed event with no audience members.
But this year, the ceremony is returning to its offline format. Previous winners will also gather for a panel discussion on the role youth engagement plays in the development of Ukraine.
A board comprised of previous winners will help the Kyiv Post pick this year’s winners, who will be announced during the ceremony in early December.
This year’s winners will be given a challenge to strengthen the award alumni community. The challenge, a secret for now, will be revealed at the ceremony.
Where they are now
The award alumni community is full of strong, inspiring leaders. For many, the Top 30 Under 30 award isn’t the peak of their achievements, as they continue to reach new heights.
Mykhailo Fedorov became one of the 2019 award winners as the youngest minister in Ukraine’s history. At 28, he was appointed minister of digital transformation, taking charge of Ukraine’s electronic government. Back then, his ministry had just revealed a brand new app called Diia, an experimental platform for the government to provide e-services.
It’s no question that Diia proved to be a success. Ukraine has become the world’s first country to legalize digital passports which are saved on the Diia app. In total, Ukrainians can use nearly 70 state services through the app. By August, Diia had more than five million users.
It’s been especially convenient to have such online services in a global pandemic that requires social distancing and remote work. Diia also provides digital versions of COVID‑19 vaccination certificates.
“At a time when conservative states are slowly transforming, Ukraine is doing it with incredible speed,” Fedorov told the Kyiv Post in August.
Another high achiever of the 2019 winner class is judoka Daria Bilodid. She won the European Judo Championship at just 16, and by 17, she became the youngest judo world champion.
Two years after picking up the Kyiv Post award at 19, Bilodid won her first Olympic medal at her Olympic Games debut in Tokyo. Having won bronze, the athlete made history by winning Ukraine’s first award in women’s judo.
Another Olympic athlete, Zhan Beleniuk, was the award alumni in 2018. By that point, Beleniuk had a silver Olympic medal in Greco-Roman Wrestling. After the win, Beleniuk got offers to represent other countries for more money but told the Kyiv Post at the time “I just belong here” and “people who have always supported and believed in me are all in Ukraine.”
Beleniuk in return has supported his country in both sports and politics. He was elected to the parliament in 2019 as a member of the Servant of the People party and went on to win Ukraine’s only gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics this year.
“It’s every athlete’s dream,” Beleniuk told the Kyiv Post in September shortly after the Games.
As a member of the parliamentary Committee on Youth and Sports, the athlete-lawmaker is working to promote sports in Ukraine at all levels, helping to make the population healthier and supporting young promising athletes.
Kyiv Post’s commercial director Alyona Nevmerzhytska says that the newspaper is happy to see the winners keep on doing great things.
“We hope that this award makes them more visible for government officials, for the world, and this motivates them to achieve more,” she said.
Nominate your candidate for Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 award here.
Find out more about previous winners here:
Meet Top 30 Under 30 winners of 2020
Meet 120 Ukrainian leaders, the winners of Ukraine’s Top 30 Under 30 Award
