"the times" wrote that valery gergiev, chairman of the organizing committee, was “forced” to call a press conference “to answer the press outcry about the piano jury’s decisions.” the critics petitioned gergiev to include a “critics’ prize” among the competition's awards, citing the presence of such prizes at other major competitions, including the queen elizabeth competition in brussels. speaking later in an interview on "radio svoboda", critic yuliya bederova noted that in his refusal gergiev did not cite the competition's regulations, which forbade the introduction of new awards later than two months before the start, but rather based his refusal on the fear that “any other opinions, should they be different, would call the jury’s position into question.” she continued, “for her colleagues and her, additional viewpoints are an enrichment and not a refutation of the jury’s opinion or its authoritativeness,” and noted that at the time of the press conference it was unknown whether the results of critics’ vote and the jury's vote would be different.