OREANDA-NEWS. United Metallurgical Company (OMK CJSC, based in Moscow) has named its best employees of 2013 at the 11th Annual Ivan and Andrey Batashev Fund Awards ceremony. The event took place on April 4, in Vyksa (Nizhny Novgorod Region).

A total of 169 employees and nine worker teams from OMK enterprises were nominated in eleven categories. Six of them were open only to blue collar workers. One of the ceremony's tasks is to promote blue collar occupations in Russian regions.

The Fund's expert council decided to give the awards to Yuri Chernetsky and Sergey Ryabov (maintenance men at Vyksa Steel Works), Alexander Kamyshev (blacksmith/punch press operator from Trubodetal factory), Anatoly Kiselyov (miller from Blagoveshchensk Valves Plant), Andrey Zhigalov (team leader from the Casting and Rolling Complex), the A-shift worker team of the wheel rolling shop at Vyksa Steel Works, and to engineers, specialists and managers of the company's affiliates.

It is a tradition that the winners receive their awards from special guests: OMK partners, scientists, artists, and athletes. Among them were Dmitry Livanov (Russian Minister of Education and Science), Sergey Krikalyov (Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center and Hero of the USSR and Russia), Alevtina Chernikova (Head of the Moscow Steel and Alloys Institute), Boris Morozov (Chief Director of the Central Academic Russian Army Theater), Vladimir Nefyodov (Minister of Industry and Innovations of the Nizhny Novgorod Region), and many others. OMK was represented by Chairman of the Board Anatoly Sedykh, President Vladimir Markin, and Managing Director of the Vyksa Steel Works-Sergey Filippov.

The winner in the “Best Young Specialist” category, Alexander Tkachenko, process engineer at Trubodetal factory, received his award from the Russian Minister of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov. The latter said, “The Batashev Fund Awards ceremony has become a great tradition for me; it gives me the opportunity to speak with my colleagues and like-minded people. I would like to express my admiration for the town of Vyksa, OMK, and the people who live and work here. The level of qualification of young experts at factories today determines the success we will have tomorrow.”

Upon handing the second prize and a silver medal to OMK Marketing Director Ilya Kolomeets, OMK Chairman of the Board Anatoly Sedykh said, “The Batashev Fund Awards are an important corporate tradition. We are holding this ceremony for the eleventh time. By doing so, we express our gratitude to all those who work hard, and do something unique and advanced for OMK.”