World Piano Competition winners announced. (Items of Interest).

The 46th World Piano Competition (WPC) honored Eun Joo Chung of Korea with a gold medal and first prize of $10,000 and a debut recital at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

The $3,000 second prize and silver medal went to Daria Rabotkina of Russia; and the $2,000 third prize and bronze medal went to Oxana Mikhailoff of Russia.

Other prize winners included Nino Ushikishvili, of the Republic of Georgia, who won the $1,000 fourth-place award; Xin Tong, of China, who won the $500 fifth-place award; and Soyoung Kee, of the United States, who won the $300 sixth-place award.

The Young Artist Division grand prize recipients were Michelle Lee, levels 1-4 winner, age 8, of the United States, who won $500; Jerry Lang, levels 5-8 co-winner, age 12, of the United States, who won $250; Luiko Yoshimoto, levels 5-8 co-winner, age 10, of Japan, who won $250; and Illya Filshtinskiy, levels 9-12 solo and concerto winner, age 15, of Ukraine, who won $3,000.

A record number of 150 pianists from twenty-two countries qualified to participate before an international jury from England, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States.

Held annually in Cincinnati, Ohio, the WPC is considered one of the leading piano competitions in the world and is the only major piano competition to include an artist and a young artist division every year. The 2002 WPC was sponsored by The John & Shirley Davies The Robison Foundation/B. Sporck Award, the Charles H. Dater Foundation, Procter & Gamble, Fifth Third Bank, the Westin Hotel and the Fine Arts Fund.