Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the “Hero of Our Times” 2025 award ceremony at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan.

The event was also attended by President Vahagn Khachaturyan, National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Constitutional Court President Arman Dilanyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, representatives of legislative, executive, judicial, local self-government bodies and other officials.

The awards were presented to 13 participants of the “Hero of Our Times” program, prepared by the Public Relations and Information Center of the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Armenia.

The awards were presented by President Vahagn Khachaturyan, National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan, Head of the NA "Civil Contract" faction Hayk Konjoryan, "Hero of Our Times 2024" award winners Edgar Abrahamyan, Avetis Yeganyan and Gohar Tadevosyan, Armen Martirosyan.

Before presenting the Grand Prize, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made a speech and noted that “The Hero of Our Times” becomes more concrete and accomplished with each passing year, which also shows the course of our state, our thoughts. The Prime Minister shared his key impression of this year: “We need to focus more and more and draw more and more people’s attention to the idea that he can, that a person can, that an individual can, that a lot really depends on an individual. In general, the ideas about solving problems, establishing a state, or the pyramid of a country’s development are sometimes hardened, and sometimes, from time to time, we need to revisit them. Of course, what the legislative branch does, what the current government does, what the judiciary does, local self-government bodies do, all of that is very important, key, essential, but we sometimes forget that the legislative, executive, and state power are also formed through and thanks to the decisions made by individuals. In other words, every individual voter determines what the government looks like, the program, etc. And this is also the reason why we should constantly pay more and more attention to the role and ability of the individual."

Nikol Pashinyan noted that at this year's awards ceremony, the number of awards in the field of education was noticeably higher. In this context, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of the fact that education in the Republic of Armenia is also being economized to some extent, and cases of individual entrepreneurship are emerging in the education sector. "This is also part of our strategies. This year, we introduced the Universal Declaration System, which provides for social credits, including for services in the education sector. And we predicted that new services would continue to appear in the education sector, because a teacher, yes, can increase his salary through voluntary certification, but he can also create an enterprise, continuing his work outside of school, and thereby create a very large economic and educational effect," the Prime MInister said.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, you just need to reach out and be open to education and new ideas. The Prime Minister noted that this year's main prize has a special meaning for him: "It is very important that there are individuals in the Republic of Armenia who think not only on the scale of an individual, but also on the scale of the state thinking, and perhaps, somewhere instead of the state, and perhaps with the logic that this thinking will develop so much that the state, the private sector will pay more attention to it. But it is very important that these people, in particular our today's laureate, do this work tirelessly, firstly, because they love this work, and secondly, they believe in this work. And with that love, faith, and the energy, interest, and depth of this work, they also inspire others."

Prime Minister Pashinyan presented the Grand Prize to astronomer Avetik Grigoryan, co-founder of the "Bazoomq" space research laboratory.