The all-Russian creative competition named after L.A. Verbitskaya has determined the winners

The contest was open to international students who are non-native speakers of Russian. The contestants were to submit a video of themselves reciting a poem by a Russian poet or performing a song (romance) with lyrics by a Russian author.

A total of over 260 videos recordings were submitted by students from 62 countries: China, Egypt, Serbia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, India, Japan, Iran, Syria, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Cuba, Indonesia, Mongolia, and many others.

According to the contest jury, headed by Tatiana Popova, Professor in the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching at St Petersburg University, the contestants succeeded in creating many vivid and memorable poetic images. Each and every submission is talented and interesting in its own way.

The awards ceremony was opened by Aleksei Astakhov, an actor, director and Assistant Professor at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, St Petersburg. Under his guidance, the contestants prepared a sketch during an acting training session.

The winners in the category "Russian poem recitation" were congratulated by Mikhail Koryshev, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at St Petersburg University, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Contest. The top winners in the category are as follows:

the 1st place was shared between two participants — Hemanjali Karedla (India, Preparatory Course at St Petersburg University) and Evelina Beitulaeva (Uzbekistan, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University)
the 2nd place was awarded to Daria Al-Haj (Lebanon, Preparatory Course at St Petersburg University); Ivan Daniel Flores Ramos (Peru, St Petersburg University graduate); and Enejan Gurbanmukhammedova (Turkmenistan, Institute of Economics and Management, Volgograd State Technical University)
the 3rd place was taken by Mila Maksimovich (Serbia, Faculty of Biology, St Petersburg University)

Awards to the winners in the category "Song or romance with lyrics by a Russian author" were presented by Galina Zhukova, a pianist, winner of the international contests, Head of the programme "Academic Singing", Associate Professor in the Department of Organ, Harpsichord and Carillon at St Petersburg University.

the 1st place was awarded to Putri Menli Erika (Indonesia, Russian State University of Tourism and Service, Moscow)
the 2nd place winner was Zhou Shunming (People’s Republic of China, Preparatory Course at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, St Petersburg)
the 3rd place was shared between Rocio Botho (Spain, Instituto de Lengua Rusa A. Pushkin, Madrid); Zhao Ruizi and Xu Mini (People’s Republic of China, Tchaikovsky Academic Music College at the Moscow State Conservatory)

The special prizes were presented by: Alan Tskhovrebov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching at St Petersburg University; Mariia Nechaeva, Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Russian for the Faculties of Humanities and Natural Sciences at St Petersburg University; and Irina Nikolskaia, Associate Professor in the Department of Russian for the Faculties of Humanities and Natural Sciences at St Petersburg University. Special prizes were awarded to:

- In the Special Jury Prize category, to Zhang Hongjian (People’s Republic of China, Faculty of Arts, St Petersburg University) and Bahar Yelkenci (Türkiye, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University) In the category "For soulful vocals", to Roger Ernesto Castellanos Perez (Cuba, Emperor Alexander I St Petersburg State Transport University)
- In the category "For the originality of performance", to Wu Ruihan (People’s Republic of China, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University)
- In the category "For acting", to Radoslava Mladenova (Bulgaria, St Petersburg Repin Academy of Fine Arts) and Koppany Rozge (Hungary, St Petersburg Repin Academy of Fine Arts)
- In the category "For the beauty of performance of Russian classics", to Huang Ziqinghe (People’s Republic of China, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University)
- In the category "For the faithful rendition of the author’s intent", to Alexandre Lufunda Saulo (Angola, Kirov Military Medical Academy, St Petersburg) and Khulan Munkhbat (Mongolia, Kirov Military Medical Academy, St Petersburg)
- In the category "For a vivid, personal performance of a poem", to Arina Grigoriev (Moldova, Liceul Teoretic V. Suhomlinschi, Edineț)
- In the category "The audience award", to Enkhbuyan Tsakhtbaatar (Mongolia, Preparatory Department, St Petersburg State University of Film and Television)
- A Special Prize "For the outstanding poetry recitation" was won by Laura Tierz (Spain, Instituto de Lengua Rusa A. Pushkin, Madrid)
- The Jury’s Choice Prize was awarded to Li Han (People’s Republic of China, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University)
- A Special Prize "For a moving presentation of the work of an internationalist poet" was won by Ali Chadorhani (Iran, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Medical Technologies, St Petersburg University)
- A special Jury Prize "For the recapturing the spirit of a fairy tale in poetic incarnation" was awarded to Carla Nahiba Alvarado Garcia (Nicaragua, Preparatory Department of the St Petersburg State Institute of Culture); and
- A special Jury Prize "For the ability to influence the audience" was won by Jin Wenjun (People’s Republic of China, Faculty of Philology, St Petersburg University)

Congratulations to the winners and prize winners! We wish you continued success!

You can watch videos of the winning performances on the CONTEST WEBSITE ›