Ukrainian song wins prestigious award at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

The updated version of the classic Ukrainian song Shchedryk, known to wider audiences as Carol of the Bells, called the Carol for Charity, won Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions 2023 festival of creativity.

The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced that the Ukrainian melody was awarded in the Radio & Audio category,  Rubryka reports.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba stressed that the "silver" of the Cannes Lions is a significant award and recognition of Ukraine's successes in public diplomacy.

"I congratulate the project team, which achieved this result thanks to a non-standard approach and reinterpretation of the world-famous work of the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych," Kuleba noted. "We once again managed to enchant the world not only with the beauty of 'Shchedryk' but also with its important humanitarian mission to help small Ukrainians in the face of full-scale Russian aggression."

About the Carol for Charity project

On the eve of Christmas 2022, Ukrainian creatives updated the words of the world-famous Shchedryk by Mykola Leontovych. This is how the Carol Carol for Charity came up to be. In English, it spoke about the realities of the war and the feelings of Ukrainians and encouraged people to donate to support Ukrainian children.

The melody was performed by Taras Topolia from the band Antytila, the Hryhorii Veriovka National Ensembl, and the Zerniatko children's folklore ensemble. The piece was played on 22 radio stations in 11 countries.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. The festival celebrates breakthrough, non-standard ideas, approaches, and technologies that set trends in the development of culture, business, and society.

The festival is considered the largest gathering of professionals, designers, digital innovators, and marketers worldwide. "Cannes Lions" is the most coveted and respected global advertising and creative award.

As reported by Rubryka, "Shchedryk" from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a bronze at the international festival The One Show.

We also reported that the Ukrainian "Shchedryk" was performed again at Carnegie Hall in New York 100 years after its world premiere in New York.