On April 24-25, the results were summed up of the nominations of the 22nd Youth Delphic Games, which were attended by students of Saratov State University – Historical Enlightenment, TV Journalism, and Photography. The first two competitions were held in SSU Bldg. 11, the last one – in the Saratov State Academy of Law. SSU students were among the best in all nominations.

The Historical Enlightenment Nomination

Sixteen students from all over Russia took part in the Historical Enlightenment nomination. On the first day, the contestants had to prepare a presentation on one of historical myths that they had to refute using the research of experienced colleagues. The contestants spent no more than six hours on it.

On April 24, they presented their reports, and the members discussed them. Each participant could prepare an accompanying presentation on the SSU computers and print out the necessary materials. They had to present their report for 5-7 minutes and answer the questions of the participants and the commission for the same period.

The expert jury included: Leading Researcher of the Centre for Military History of Russia, IRH RAS, Ruslan Gagkuyev, Professor of the New Russia. The History of Post-Soviet Russia Education-to-Research Centre, Russian State University for the Humanities, Natalia Antonenko, and Associate Professor of the Department of National History and Historiography, SSU, Anton Luchnikov. Maria Chevtayeva, a student of the Institute of History and International Relations, became the host nominee.

Saratov State University was represented by two undergraduates of the Institute of History and International Relations. The first speaker was Yegor Lazarev with the following topic: Protocols of the Elders of Zion, testifying to a meeting of Jewish leaders at which a conspiracy plan was drawn up to gain world domination. Yegor studied the Protocols and other historical sources in detail and refuted the falsification. The jury members asked him questions, which he successfully answered, and received a special prize for thorough analysis of current historical problems.

Pyotr Fedosov made a presentation entitled The theory of the collapse of the Soviet Union as a result of the CIA plan using Mikhail Gorbachev and other agents of influence. The jury highly appreciated the work done in such a short time, and Pyotr became 2nd place winner.

After all the speeches, the jury summed up the results. Anton Luchnikov commented why the Historical Enlightenment nomination was one of the most difficult tests at the Delphic Games. ‘This nomination is quite difficult as it is held for the first time, so the evaluation criteria have not been developed yet. Many thanks to the Russian Historical Society and my colleagues who proposed an interesting topic – falsification of history and methods of its exposure. Our nomination was held in a very friendly atmosphere, and we hope that this conference will give students an impetus to continue. The participants offered original methods, coped with the requirements, and got a high-quality result. They have represented their regions in a dignified way. Our students have shown good results, which confirm the high level of the Saratov Historical School.’

The TV Journalism Nomination

On April 25, a solemn award ceremony was held in the TV Journalism nomination. It was attended by teams of two people consisting of a cameraman and a reported, in two age groups: 15-18 years – nine teams, 19-25 years – fourteen teams.

The jury of the nomination were: the reviewer of the Culture News of the Culture TV channel Valeria Kudryavtseva, Chief Editor of the news programmes office of the Culture TV channel Andrei Raikin, and Professor of the Department of Literary Studies and Journalism, SSU, Artyom Zorin. The hosts were students of the Institute of Philology and Journalism Victoria Amiraslanova and Misak Petrosyan.

The topic for the contestants was Amazing Around, and they had only six hours to shoot a three-minute story in any genre and edit it. In addition to presenting their stories, journalists were able to discuss the work of competitors and participated in a master class from Chief Editor of the news programme office of the Saratov State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, an SSU graduate Tatyana Kudasova.

SSU was represented by the team of the I Like IT TV project – students of the Institute of Philology and Journalism Anna Gnusaryova and Arina Kuzina. They prepared a story about the Saratov flea market and received a special prize for the brightness.

Artyom Zorin commented on the results of the nomination. ‘This year, the competition rate was high. The teams that were able to embody a given topic in their story while not in their hometown won. It was nice to see various monuments and other elements of the urban landscape. The journalists were able not only to tell us about the history of the city, but also to find such pain points that they could competently show them. There was nerve, drama, irony in it. There are a lot of non-standard approaches because the template in journalism is not appreciated.’

The Photography Nomination

The results of the Photography nomination were announced on April 24. Dmitrii Kovshov, a 4th-year student of the Institute of Philology and Journalism, a photographer of the Office of Media Communications, won a special prize for his creative view on the topic.

The topic of the second stage was Urban Spring. In this series, the participants had only eight hours to take from six to ten pictures. The photos were placed on exhibition stands.

The awarding of the age group of 20-24 years was held by the chair of the jury, a photographer, a writer, a journalist, and an author of documentaries Vitalii Ivanov (Krasnoyarsk Territory). He said that there were few photographic “splashes” at the competition, and shared some important advice with the participants of the competition.

Other Nominations

In addition, the Meridian dancing group of the Student Club, SSU, which performed at the games as part of the Varenka dancing group, won a silver medal in the Folk Dance, Groups nomination (age category of 14-21 years). The group consists of SSU students: Ekaterina Kuzmenyuk (the Faculty of Geology), Anastasia Bulgakova (the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics), Ilya Yesin, Kirill Kashigin, and Askar Sitkaliyev (the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technologies), Polina Aleksyunina (the Institute of Physics), Anna Chernysheva (the Faculty of Psychological, Pedagogical, and Special Needs Education), and Elena Sakharova (the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Language Teaching Methods).

To remind, choreographic performances for the opening ceremony of the Delphic Games were staged by the head of the ArT-mix dancing group of modern choreography, SSU, Anatolii Timofeyev. And 150 volunteers of Saratov State University actively help the organisers of the event at the sites.

The closing ceremony and gala concert of the prize-winners of the 22nd Youth Delphic Games of Russia will take place today at 6 p.m. It will be broadcast here.