Media Associates International is pleased to announce the 2025 winner of the Robert B. Reekie Global Publisher Award— Ezdra Publishing in Ukraine.
This annual award recognizes excellence in publishing ministry within regions facing unique challenges. It honors the pioneering vision of MAI co-founder Robert B. Reekie, whose lifelong passion was to equip and encourage Christian publishers producing quality, accessible materials.
“We are deeply encouraged by the faithful and creative work of Ezdra Publishing, particularly your ongoing efforts to distribute meaningful titles for children and families, your partnership in producing Sunday school curriculum that nurtures young hearts, and your dedication to bringing a Children’s Bible to life through translation, editing, and design,” MAI President Heather Pubols wrote to CEO Andriy Kravchenko.
“Your continued service amid challenging circumstances in Ukraine exemplifies the very spirit of resilience, excellence, and hope that this award seeks to honor. We thank God for your ministry and pray that this recognition will serve as both encouragement and affirmation as you continue your vital work through this difficult period in your country.”
Beginnings in publishing
A little over thirty years ago, just after coming to faith in Christ, young Andriy asked himself how he might share his faith with the world. “I was already leading a Sunday school, and I got the idea of publishing a Christian newspaper for children,” Andriy recalls. It was his first experience in editing and publishing a monthly newspaper with national distribution.
At that time, all the hymnal books in the Ukrainian evangelical churches were missing Ukrainian songs and other new music that young people loved to sing. In 1995, a mere two years after Andriy became a Christian, the 100-page hymnal A Collection of Songs for Youth was born. The first thousand copies were sold within a month. It is still in print, having been reprinted multiple times.
Surviving with songs of praise
Ezdra Publishing is named after the biblical Ezra— a Jewish priest and scribe who led a second wave of exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem, with his ministry focused on the nation’s spiritual and legal reform.
“Similar to Jews after captivity, Ukraine—after decades of atheism—finally had a chance to have a spiritual revival,” Andriy says. “I imagined our publishing house would give churches the tools that would help them.”
Ezdra did not yet have the capacity to print Bibles; the Ukrainian church was importing Bibles from Belarus at the time. The new publishing house could, however, produce hymnals. “Fellow Christians didn’t believe we were up to the task,” Andriy says. “The next ten years proved them wrong.”
In 1999, Ezdra published its first hardcover hymnal, and has since distributed over 300,000 copies in Russian and Ukrainian. To this day, the hymnals continue to sell well. “They’re still helping us to survive,” says Andriy.
Expanding into reference books, testimonies and fiction
Ezdra went on to publish Bible dictionaries, concordances and handbooks for the Ukrainian church, as well as a popular 20-book Exploring the Bible series for adults and children.
One book, a translation of Taming the Tiger (the story of world kung-fu champion Tony Anthony coming to faith in Christ in a prison cell), was particularly successful. Upon publishing the book, Ezdra invited Tony to tour Ukraine and meet readers.
“Tens of thousands attended the events, with many receiving Jesus as Lord,” Andriy said. “This is a good example of how a book and a good story can change people’s lives. That’s our ultimate call as publishers.”
In 2005, Ezdra started publishing fiction, with four titles. Five thousand copies of each title were sold during first year, and each one is still in print. Today, Ezdra’s offerings include children’s books—both translations and content by local authors.
Connecting and multiplying efforts with others
Seeking contact with other publishers in Ukraine and abroad, Andriy discovered MAI-Europe. He went on to attend their regional conference in 2010. Later, he attended MAI’s global conference LittWorld in Singapore, then visited a print-on-demand (POD) production site. “It became my dream to build similar one in Ukraine,” Andriy says. “We did, with help from our friends abroad, our enthusiasm and a lot of effort.”
Today, Ezdra Publishing’s POD shop is producing books for Ukrainian Christian publishers and self-published authors. The equipment is helping them to continue operations in challenging circumstances.
Publishing challenges in the midst of war
With scheduled blackouts, including lack of access to power for up to 16 out of 24 hours, Ezdra Publishing has taken some drastic and costly measures to enable the ministry to continue. They built a solar power station with back-up capacity to continue producing books.
“Ukraine’s churches are working hard to help people in their need, and it opens the doors for them to bring the good news—they need literature and we’re here to help,” Andriy says.
Andriy admits dreaming about the future while living under the constant pressure of war is hard. Still, Ezdra continues to persevere. “My prayer is for Ezdra Publishing to continue its mission of providing local churches with tools to serve, despite all the darkness and desperation around us—and that we will adapt to changes to fulfill our mission as Christians of delivering the good news of Jesus to the world.”
MAI’s annual Robert B. Reekie Global Publisher Award was established in 2018. Past recipients include MIK publishing house in Pakistan (2018), Dar Manhal Al Hayat publishing house in Lebanon (2021), Văn Phẩm Hạt Giống (Seed Publications) in Vietnam (2023) and Certeza Argentina (2024).
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