Although it should have been, the winner of the "Žanka Stokić" acting award was not announced last year, and there are no indications that its founders will announce a new contest by the end of this theater season.
"Žanka Stokić" is, together with Dobriča's ring, the most important acting award in Serbia. It is awarded to actresses who, with their work, have made an outstanding contribution to Serbian film, television, and theater art.
Its founders are the National Theater in Belgrade, "Večernje Novosti" and the City of Požarevac.
The award was initiated by Mira Stupica in 2003, during the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of her work, when her colleagues awarded her the title of "Greatest Serbian Actress of the Past Century".
"I am not the greatest Serbian actress of the last century." The greatest actress that the Serbian theater has had is Žanka Stokić, who has been unfairly forgotten, and she owed so much to theater art and our culture. That is why I am asking our cultural public to return Žanka Stokić to her rightful place, and I suggest establishing an acting award that will be named after her," said Mira Stupica.
Since then, the award has been presented every year, and then in 2019 it was decided to become a biennial.
Tanja Bošković is currently the last winner of the "Žanka Stokić" award. The jury made and announced its decision in 2021, and the award was presented to Tanja Bošković the following year. So, for the third year since it was announced, that is, two years since it was awarded, the "Žanka Stokić" award was forgotten.
Molina Udovički Fotez, the director of Drama at the National Theater with whom we spoke yesterday about this, says that "the award has not been canceled", she is surprised "how so much time has already passed", and she does not know why there was a break. He shifts the responsibility to "Večernje Novosti" because "they are journalists, they have been taking care of it until now."
By the way, he mentions that the "Petar Banićević" award is also late.
By the way, it is an award that the National Theater gives to a young actor or actress, that is, an award that, apart from the National Theater, has no other founder or organizer on whom the time of its awarding could depend, so here it is, after all, late.
Today, from "Večernje novosti", about the fate of "Žanka", culture section editor Branislav Đorđević tells "Vreme" that they have just agreed that "as always, in agreement with the National Theater and depending on their repertoire and obligations, they will open competition for the 'Žanka Stokić' award during this year".
What has been waiting until now, neither of them have a proper explanation.
