In the sixth season of the first international contest for Russian-language media and bloggers in the history of Russian journalism “By Pen and Heart”, 213 participants who submitted 418 works to the arbitrators were registered.
The geography of applicants has expanded significantly — the organizing committee received applications from eight countries — Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, as well as from 62 regions of the Russian Federation.
The jury recognized two works as laureates of the competition: the historical excursion "Inhuman heroism" by the staff of the online publication "Detail. uz" (Tashkent) about how animals helped the soldiers of the Red Army to forge victory in the Great Patriotic War, and a documentary by a journalist of the RTD TV channel (ANO TV-Novosti) Aigul Yerbulova's "Noah's Ark" about the dramatic history of the Donetsk zoo. Unfortunately, Aigul passed away shortly before the ceremony.
The silver prize winner was Yulia Ushakova, a correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda, for her brilliant investigation of “Sweetness requires sacrifice.” The third place was shared by Elena Sobkova (REDOVKA, a series of reports about animal volunteers from new regions) and Natalia Scriabina (Kisrishchevo, a heartfelt story of how a stray cat became a comfort to the mother of a son fallen on a special military operation).
Special prizes of the competition were awarded to a journalist of the Pavlovsky Metallist newspaper (Nizhny Novgorod region) Elena Malyugina and RIA Novosti correspondent Daria Yudkina, and the prize "For the benefit of Others" is Daria Dolinina from Komsomolskaya Pravda-Samara.
This season, 18 articles and reports from adult colleagues competed with those who are taking their first steps in the profession, and according to the decision of the arbitrators, following the results of an unofficial junior competition, Irina Mukhametshina, a schoolgirl from Novosibirsk, who worked as a volunteer in one of the shelters for several days to write the material "Not forgotten, but abandoned.".
Anna Vorobyova (TVoi Tyumen) was awarded the traditional prize of the NWFD Media Association.
In addition, Honorary diplomas of the competition were awarded to: Soyuna Bukhayeva, Aris US shopping mall (Republic of Buryatia)
Aliya Tagirova, TV channel BST (Republic of Bashkortostan)
Vladimir Petrushenko, "Vestnik of Severodonetsk" (LNR)
Svetlana Lomakina, online publication "Takie dela"
editorial board of the TV channel "Together-RF"
Elizaveta Morokhina, BNK (Komi Republic)
Tatiana Pototskaya, TV channel Guberniya (Samara)
Igor Antipov, Publishing House Gubernskie Vedomosti (Sakhalin)
Elena Kalacheva, Laguna TV (Brest, Belarus)
Bosko Kozarski, TV channel Coolturista (Belgrade, Serbia)