Associate Professor of the Department of Russian History and Archaeology Victor Totfalushin was given N.G. Chernyshevsky Award in research, publicism, and journalism.
Applications for the award were submitted from Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Tyumen, and Saratov. The award ceremony took place at the N. G. Chernyshevsky and his Epoch International Scientific Readings.
The winners of the I All-Russian N.G. Chernyshevsky Award in research, publicism, and journalism were awarded by Acting Mayor Lada Mokrousova.
‘The best researchers, writers, and journalists are awarded with this prize. He we see high-level professionals who already have many well-deserved titles and awards. Each of you is a bright creative personality, and your achievements open up new horizons in a variety of fields,’ Lada Mokrousova emphasized.
She congratulated the awardees and noted their significant contribution to improving the status of Saratov as a cultural and research centre.
Victor Totfalushin received the award in the Research nomination. He has been conducting research and teaching at the Institute of History and International Relations, SSU, for the past 44 years. Besides, he has written more than 400 works, including five monographies. The leading direction in Totfalushin’s research is the study the social routine of Saratov Volga Region during the Russian wars in the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries. He received a well-deserved award for his work titled Saratov Region during the Crimean War.
‘The book I have been working on for the last five years is not entirely about Chernyshevsky, it is about Saratov Region and our fellow countrymen who were involved in the Crimean War. But it was just the time when Nikolai Chernyshevsky became a grown-up person in Saratov and started his teaching career. And, undoubtedly, these events had an impact on his personality and beliefs,’ Victor Totfalushin marked. He thanked the jury for evaluating his work and wished his colleagues success.
Vladimir Kantor was awarded in the Publicism nomination for his book titled Dostoevsky's Two Homelands: An Attempt to Comprehend. ‘I am happy to be in Saratov. The Saratov award is very dear to me, because I love this city,’ he said.
The winner in the Journalism nomination for a series of TV reports about Chernyshevsky and his museum-estate was a special correspondent of the Saratov State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company, a graduate of Saratov University Svetlana Borodich. The winners received video greetings from the staff of the I.S. Turgenev Orel Literary Museum and Director of the State Literary Museum Dmitrii Bak.
Letters of appreciation for the work as members of the Expert Council of the award were presented to Professor of the Department of Russian and World Literatures Aleksei Gaponenkov, Professor of the Department of Literary Studies and Journalism Igor Knigin, Professor of the Department of Russian History and Archaeology Yurii Varfolomeyev, Editor-in-Chief of the Low Volga Newsreel Studio Tatyana Zorina and Editor-in-Chief of the Volga – 21st Century magazine Elena Martynova.
The initiative to establish the award belongs to the research community and the Saratov regional branch of the Russian Union of Writers, and it was supported by the municipality. The award was established in order to popularise the Chernyshevsky’s legacy and expand the understanding of his role as a scholar and philosopher who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian and world scientific thinking. The prize amount is 100 thousand rubles in each of the three nominations. The prize is awarded once every two years.
