“Quill of the Year 2008” awards will take place at the Ministry of National Defence on December 29, at 11.00 a.m. at the White Hall. Guest of the ceremony will be greeted by the US military journalist Michael Yon, who recently gave an original view of Lithuanian Special Operations Forces operation in Afghanistan in his website.

Awards will be presented by the Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevicine and Chief of Defence Lt. Gen. Valdas Tutkus. Chief awards are stylized pens and parts of officer aglets will be given to representatives of media who did the most go-ahead, persistent and sincere job in providing information about national defence this year.

This year nominees will be awarded with special prizes for the most imposing music concert in extreme conditions; for patience in representing “media forces”; for revelation of the artistic world in the military forces; for persistent exploration of themes of military history and social life; for the first Lithuanian TV series, etc. Representatives of media will share their impressions from travelling to our soldiers’ deployment “hot spots”, and extreme experience from the specialized course “Commandos” organised for military journalists by the French Armed Forces.

This year nomination of “service shoe” will be awarded for the second time; the first nomination was given to Birute Vysniauskaite (daily newspaper “Lietuvos rytas”) in 2007 for unceasing “treading” on the topic of national defence.

During the event video clip “Parcel from LT” created by a media representative Jaunius Matonis while travelling to Afghanistan with Lithuanian peacekeepers will be put on public display for the first time, traditional photography exhibition “Media representatives in the Armed Forces” will be demonstrated, video material from the “Journalists’ March 2008” that was held this year in the Great Hetman of Lithuania Jonusas Radvila Training Regiment and pictures from photo session for troops in the “Lilit” women’s magazine will be demonstrated.

“Quill of the Year” nomination has been awarded since 2001 to the most distinguished media representatives for the energy, initiative, and professional performance in informing society about the national defence and armed forces.

Representatives of media are invited to arrive at the Ministry of National Defence, the White Hall (Vilnius, Totoriu g. 25/3, ground floor