RBC gathered together the nation's cream of the crop in the Moscow Kremlin on February 15 to award this year's Person of the Year winners. We are accustomed to attributing Russia's economic success to favorable global market conditions and high oil prices. However, the list of winners (numbering only 37 people, by the way) proves that the focus nowadays is far from the fuel-and-energy sector.

"Some of this year's winners are people whose achievements are evident to all, and who have been around for a long time, while others are new names the public is only about to discover, whom we will get to see and hear for the first time at the award ceremony today. So, for example, such spheres as medicine and the food industry did not escape the expert council's attention this year. Though not widely acclaimed, these fields are noteworthy. The award's results have shown the market's current condition and have given a glimpse into what it will be like in the near future, what sectors of the economy are likely to take the lead," said Olga Sviblova, Director of the Moscow House of Photography.

It was characteristic of many winners to perceive the award as a sign of attention to their field. Thus, Professor Konstantin Anokhin (winner in special category Potential and Prospects in Science) said he saw the award primarily as support shown to "the Russian tradition of fundamental research". In turn, Vladimir Vigdorchik, the Director of Medincenter, a medical branch of the Foreign Ministry establishment providing services to Diplomatic Corps, (winner in special category "For contributing to national health protection") noted that it was not the appreciation of his merits that he found pleasing, but that the award indicated the significance of national medicine in society. "I think the Person of the Year award will only gain significance with each year, because we are trying to keep ahead of the times. We have launched an event that does not simply draw the community's attention to outstanding professional achievement, but also works to renew operational and managerial techniques and helps rejuvenate the elite," Yury Rovensky, RBC's General Director said to explain the principles the award's expert council was governed by.

Though the award is only five years old, it has stepped across national boundaries. Citizens of other countries besides Russia can now also contend for this prize. Anyone who has worked for the benefit of this country can be named Person of the Year by the expert council. Two foreigners were among the award winners this year: General Manager of Auchan Russia Patrick Longuet (in the Entrepreneur of the Year category), and President and CEO of TNK-BP Robert Dudley (in the special Foreign Top-Manager in Russia category). Receiving the diploma, Longuet noted that his company's mission was to "keep boosting Russians' buying capacity" and promised that Auchan supermarkets would open in Russian regions this year. Robert Dudley was awarded "for adapting advanced international experience to the Russian business environment". According to him, "when our company emerged a few years ago, nobody could say what might come out of this. And now we are showing excellent results in the industry." Dudley was perhaps the only winner representing the oil industry this year.

Another unexpected surprise came with an award for successful management solutions developed by Russian managers. As Alexander Shishov, winner in the special category for successful business expansion into the Eastern Europe, noted, foreign managers used to be praised for managing Russian assets, but now the expert council has marked the success of Russian managers in operating western assets.

The Person of the Year is not a competition, but rather a ceremony where an award is given to those worthy of it. The winners' names were announced by the expert council the night before the ceremony, and the list was posted on the official web site, so no anxiety or intrigue was felt in the Patriarch's Chambers in the Moscow Kremlin. Still, the hall was filled beyond capacity. Russian and foreign mass media were present, as well as prominent state and public figures, representatives of Russia's business elite and the arts community.

Among the presenters of the award were David Yakobashvili, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wimm-Bill-Dann; Vladimir Tarachev, the State Duma Deputy; Nadezhda Martyanova, the General Director of the MAKS insurance company; Arkady Dvorkovich, the head of the Russian President's Expert Department; Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanayevsky Blanco, the President of Rostik Group; Viktor Gerashchenko, the Chairman of YUKOS' Board of Directors; designer Yelena Yermak; Dmitry Mezentsev, the Federation Council Vice Speaker; Tatyana Paramonova, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia; and Mikhail Barshchevsky, the Governmental Envoy to the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and Supreme Arbitration Court.

The ceremony's biggest surprise was the expert council's decision to grant no Person of the Year in Politics award at all. The guests welcomed the news with excited applause and began to guess what this may have implied. "These days it's dangerous to give an award in this category", Viktor Gerashchenko said jokingly. Dr. Igor Bunin, the General Director of the Center for Political Technologies, an independent Russian think-tank, suggested that it was because a winner was still being sought after. Dmitry Mezentsev, however, strongly disagreed with such statements. "What do you mean we do not have politicians? Just look, two out of the four Grand-Prix winners were government members, which means that people from the government have indeed been working for the economy and towards attaining stability in the country." The Grand-Prix and the Glory of Russia Order were in fact awarded to Deputy Chairman of the government Alexander Zhukov and Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reyman. The highest awards were also given to First Deputy Mayor of Moscow Vladimir Resin and President of Uralsib Financial Corporation Nikolai Tsvetkov.