YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Friday attended the Haykyan Awards ceremony at Alexander Spendaryan National Academic State Opera and Ballet Theatre. The event, organized by the Youth Foundation of Armenia, is aimed at revealing and appreciating the persons and institutions, who had significant contribution in the sphere of youth.  

The Haykyan Awards, which has already become traditional, was this time dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the formation of Armenian Armed Forces.

The nominations for the Haykyan Awards for the best youth organizations and projects of 2016 were as follows: Best Student Self-Government Body, Best President of Student Self-Government Body, Best Provincial Student Self-Government Body, Best Yerevan-Based Youth Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Unique Youth Project, Best International Youth Project, Best Youth Program, Best Military and Patriotic Project and Best Youth Scientific Achievement.

There were also special awards which were bestowed by President Sargsyan. Among the special award laureates were Konstantin Yenokyan, for initiating the scientific event “Nobel days in Yerevan,”Tigran Kocharyan, for organizing the world cup of the “What? When? Where?” intellectual game in Armenia and developing the intellectual movement, the organization “Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)” in the nomination “International Organization with Greatest Input in Youth Sphere”, Artur Alexanyan, for his significant input and dedication to the development of sport, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, for his great contribution to the development of the Armenian football.

Special Haykyan 2016 awards were also handed to 47 servicemen, who had been awarded 1st and 2nd degree Combat Cross in 2016. 

Besides a symbolic statue, the Haykyan awards laureates received Armenian ArmTab tablets manufactured in Armenia.

By the end of the event, President Sargsyan congratulated all the laureates, attaching importance to this initiative and wishing them good luck.

 “I think such events are rather important, since we are obliged to simply separate and show the others the best ones, the people who can achieve success through their diligence and talent,” the President noted.