Golden Pen 2009 winners pronounced in Tatarstan

The final stage of the 14th child, teenage and younger press festival Altyn Kalyam (Golden Pen) 2009 has finished. The Golden Pen 2009 event was held in Kazan between 25 and 27 June.

Due to the ongoing Year of Youth in Russia and Year of Sports and Healthy Lifestyle in Tatarstan, the major themes of the festival were youth politics and sports. Besides trials within the competition, the “pens” were offered master classes from professional Tatarstan journalists and PR officers, reports the Tatarstan Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism Ministry’s press service.

On the Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the deputy general director of the Novy Vek TV and radio company Milausha Aituganova held a talk show on issues related to prevention of drug addiction and shaping a healthy lifestyle among younger people. Later, Ms Aituganova shared her plans with the younger journalists to develop children’s television in Tatarstan, expected to be launched in September 2009. Golden Pen participants could come to be reporters and hosts at the future Children’s TNV company.

Despite an extensive educational programme, the younger journalists worked non-stop, issuing a daily paper in Tatar and Russia and making TV reports of the festival. The younger radio journalists worked ceaselessly as well, presenting entertainment programmes and quite profound analytical pieces to listeners.

A jury, led by the deputy chairman of the State Council of Tatarstan, chairwoman of the Tatarstan Union of Journalists Rimma Ratnikova, assessed the future wordsmiths. Based on the results of the competition, the jury selected winners in 5 nominations including Golden Pen (Russian print media), Altyn Kalyam (Tatar print media), Radio Journalism, TV Journalism and Photo. Besides, special prizes were founded for the best works dedicated to the Year of Youth in Russia and Year of Sports and Healthy Lifestyle in Tatarstan, development of inbound tourism and preparation for the World Summer Universiade 2013, as well as for media coverage education-related topics. The festival’s general sponsor, cellular service provider Megafon, has founded a special prize called Communication in Sports for the younger journalists.

The jury chairwoman Rimma Ratnikova and Journalism and Social Studies head at Kazan State University Vasil Garifullin presented a Grand Prix award, which allows the winner to be admitted to the department as a student on special terms. The absolute winners were named Elvira Vafina, Alisa Zamalieva and Ivan Skryabin. Being in the tenth grade at high school, Ivan will be able to use the newly-earned privilege next year, when he applies to the university.