The idea to establish the prize of Professor Andrii Bokotey came from the collector of Ukrainian modern art, the Chinese businessman Yu Yaoming. He voiced it in December 2017 during a visit to Lviv. The inspirer and founder of many art projects aimed at the development of Chinese and Ukrainian art, including the magazine "7UA", You Yaoming became interested in glass art relatively recently, when he attended the 10th International Blown Glass Symposium in Lviv in 2016. Prior to that, the philanthropist collected Ukrainian painting: his collection, presented in several galleries of Southeast China, includes more than 1,500 works by artists from different regions of Ukraine. Already during the first conversation about the prize, it was decided to direct it to young glass artists. After all, young Ukrainian glass requires special attention and care if we plan to preserve and continue the traditions of the Ukrainian school. 28 artists participated in the first competition for the Prof. Andrii Bokotey Award 2018. Most of them were students of the Glass Art Department of the Lviv National Academy of Arts (hereinafter LNAA). It is interesting that graduates of other LNAA departments also joined the great glass family: Taras Popovych from monumental and decorative sculpture, Nazar Kulchytskyi from art wood and Nadiya Tenetko from art ceramics. During the discussion of the works, the jury of the competition, headed by the President of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Professor Andrii Chebykin, was unanimous about the first place. The victory was won by Kyrylo Bilan, the author of the composition "Bermuda Triangle". He was awarded with participation in the opening of the Zhenjiang Greenwave Glass Museum in Ningbo (China) in October 2018. At the same time, works of all three winners were included in the exposition of this institution. A recent graduate of the Academy used a complex and time-consuming author's technique in his work. And for the jury, this became one of the determining factors. "Game of Irrationalism" by Ruslan Luchka and "Lace of Solidity" by Andrii Chyzhov received monetary rewards in the amount of 20,000 and 10,000 UAH in accordance. It is nice that at the time of the competition, both young glassmakers were still students, actively working and participating in various art projects, by the way, related not only to glass art.
17 young artists participated in the competition for the 2019 Professor Andrii Bokotey Award. Among the competition works exhibited at the Glass Museum in Lviv for the second time a variety of techniques was clearly visible: blown glass, kilnforming, stained glass, cold treatment and painting. The winner of the 2019 Professor Andriy Bokotey Award was Ruslan Luchko, a fourth-year student of the Glass Art Department of the LNAA, with the composition "Subjective Bodies". The next prizes went to the works of graduates of the Department: Olga Turetska "On the wave of life" and Nataliya Sira, "Gold". The works of the winners have traditionally added to the collection of the Zhengjiang Greenwave Glass Museum, and Ruslan Luchka's reward was participation in the opening of a new art gallery in Wuxi in June 2019. In 2020, the organizers of the Award received 32 applications from artists, including graduates of other art institutions in Ukraine. However, the announcement of the competition results had to be postponed due to the global pandemic. The winner of the 2020 competition for the Professor Andrii Bokotey Award was Inna Delieva with "AMPHORA21". The vase is glued together from pieces of broken bottles glass, which the author collected with her own hands on the coast of the Black Sea: "polished by sand, sea and time...". The second place was awarded by the Jury to Ostap Ivanyshin, a lecturer of the Glass Art Department of LNAA for the work "Floating Dreams of a Blue Catfish". The third prize went to the work of Vasyl Hrynevych, a graduate of the Department of Monumental and Decorative Sculpture of LNAA, entitled "Skull of Adam".
The 2021 Andriy Bokotey Award was supported by the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, which made it possible to significantly strengthen the format and ensure wide coverage of the project. For three months, the Glass Museum in Lviv exhibited the creative works of twenty competition participants. Natalia Parshchyk's work "Voiceless" received premium points from all its members without exception, leaving competitors far behind. Despite the modesty and minimalism of the shape, this composition actually calls the viewer to a certain meditative observation, the formation of one's own history, reaching for memories or associations. Among the new stars of the Ukrainian glass scene is Yuliya Halyshyn, winner of the second prize, graduate of the master's degree at the Glass Art Department. Absolutely fragile, for many almost imperceptible and painfully delicate black and white work introduces a certain dissonance with its title "Hidden Intentions". Bohdan Lomonosov, a master's student of the LNAA Glass Art Department, became the third winner of the 2021 Andriy Bokotey Award for his work "Salt". An important afavournt in favour of this particular work was its distinction, originality, simplicity and purity of reproduction of the values of the material.
