The most talented authors were awarded in Salekhard

The laureates of the literary prize of the governor of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug were awarded in Salekhard. The contest is held every two years in four nominations. Its goal is to support and encourage talented authors for high creative achievements in the sphere of literature.

Zinaida Longortova for the book “The Way from the Ob. Under the wing of the mother Crow” became the winner in the nomination “Fiction and documentary prose” The book tells about contribution of indigenous people of Yamal to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, describes history of a Khanty family, who adopted and raised children left without parents in difficult time of the war, as the press service of the governor of Yamal informs.

In the category “Poetry” the prize for the book “Arctic Saga” was given to Nikolay Shamsutdinov.

Vadim Gritsenko was awarded in the nomination “Local history”. In his book “Yamal North under Stalin” the author conducted extensive work with archival documents, collected rare photos and memories of participants of the events.

Dmitry Kelchin is the winner of the nomination “Debut”. He received the award for the story “Walking on water. The story of the fisherman of Yamal”.

“Unfortunately, great ethnic writers are leaving, but the young generation is growing up. We shall closely monitor creative work of the writer Dmitry Kelchin. I am glad for Zinaida Longortova, who wrote a strong book about her people and made a feature film on it. I sincerely congratulate Vadim Gritsenko. He is a serious and honest researcher of history of Yamal and the country. I especially want to highlight poetry by Nikolay Shamsutdinov, who was born in Yamal tundra and with his creative work he glorified Yamal for the whole world”, said the deputy chairman of the Public Chamber of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a writer and a journalist Yuriy Kukevich.

The contest for the literary prize has been held for the sixth time. 38 applications from 35 authors were admitted to the contest. Among the participants there are recognized and well-known writers, amateur authors, as well as beginners, who take the first steps in literary creativity. The geography of the applicants is quite wide - not only towns and districts of Yamal, but also Tyumen, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kurgan, Pskov region.

The art-works were evaluated in terms of artistic merit, contribution to development of literary process and cultural heritage, and positioning of the Autonomous Okrug. The decision on the winners was made collegially, within the sitting of the contest commission chaired by the Vice-Governor of Yamal Irina Sokolova. For the first time this year the works by candidates passed the expert examination, in which well-known writers, literary critics, local historians from Tyumen and Yekaterinburg participated.