OREANDA-NEWS. March 2, 2010. In Vyksa, Nizhni Novgorod Region, United Metallurgical Company (OMK) held the seventh annual ceremony for bestowing awards of the Foundation named after Ivan and Andrey Batashevs, who founded Vyksa Steel Works (VSW, part of OMK). The awards were granted to 32 best employees. For this purpose, the Ivan and Andrey Batashevs Foundation allocated 4.9 million rubles.

For the second time, the Expert Committee headed by Anatoly Sedykh, Chairman of the OMK Board of Directors and President of the Ivan and Andrey Batashevs Foundation, has decided to give the Foundation's highest award?First Prize and Gold Medal. Based on the 2009 results, the award went to OMK President Vladimir Markin for his substantial contribution to the development of OMK's business and successful implementation of the Company’s large-scale and unique projects. The Foundation's Second Prize and Silver Medal for ensuring capacity utilization and successful project implementation were awarded to OMK-Steel Executive Director Nikolay Zaytsev.

Based on the 2009 results, the Committee also announced Best specialists in the following 10 categories: Best Pipe Specialist, Best Metallurgist, Best Maintenance Specialist, Best Engineer, Best Young Specialist, Best Professional, Best Manager, Best Project Manager, Best Business Specialist, and Best Top Manager. In each category, one winner and two candidates were named.

This year, the awardees of the Ivan and Andrey Batashevs Foundation included not only employees of the Vyksa entities, but also representatives of OMK’s Tatarstan-based Almetyevsk Pipe Plant and Chelyabinsk-based Trubodetal.

"The Foundation Award has become company-wide, so the Expert Committee’s decision-making process was far from being easy," emphasized Anatoly Sedykh, Chairman of the OMK Board of Directors and President of the Ivan and Andrey Batashevs Foundation. "These awards signify appreciation for remarkable contributions to the company’s development."

"Today's ceremony was dedicated to representatives of OMK's pipe manufacturing entities who exceeded their targets in this challenging year," said OMK President Vladimir Markin, this year's Gold Medal awardee. "It's a great honor for me to receive this high award signifying appreciation of the success achieved by the entire company."

The awards were presented by the heads of OMK and VSW, representatives of government authorities. They included President of the Russian Union of Metal Exporters Serafim Afonin, Deputy Minister for Industry and Innovations for the Nizhni Novgorod Region Vladimir Nefyodov, Rector of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys Dmitry Livanov, popular theater and cinema actor and leading actor of the State Academic Maly Theatre of Russia Honored Artist of Russia Vladimir Nosik, and others.

The Foundation named after the Batashev brothers was established in October 2003 by OMK's shareholders. The Foundation’s main objectives are to encourage VSW's most talented and proactive employees for significant contributions to the Company's production and research development and maintain historical traditions of Russia's oldest metallurgical center.