On May 16, the awarding ceremony of the winners of the VI Recitation Contest among international students and postgraduates from Asian and African countries ‘Victory in the Hearts of Generations’, which was organised by the Russian Committee for Solidarity and Cooperation with the Peoples of Asia and Africa and timed to the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, took place. The ceremony was attended by students of the Russian as a Foreign Language Department of the Institute of International Cooperation of Penza State University Hami Batoul, Fan Xingyu, Hou Jiaxin and Cui Guifeng, who won prizes, as well as their tutors - acting head of the Russian Language as a Foreign Language Department Olga Barabash and assistant of the department Natalia Zagumennikova.

The ceremony was held in Moscow, in the Hall of Fame of the Victory Museum, Russia's largest military history museum dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.

‘This year our contest gathered a record number of participants - almost a thousand young people from 79 countries. These are not just numbers. Behind each of them is a personal choice, a desire to understand and feel what the generation that went through the war has experienced,’ said Natalia Khalturina, Secretary General of the Russian Committee for Solidarity and Cooperation with the Peoples of Asia and Africa, Chairperson of the jury of the recitation contest “Victory in the Hearts of Generations”.

During the ceremony, more than 20 teachers and 40 students were awarded diplomas and commendation letters from the Russian Committee for Solidarity and Cooperation with the Peoples of Asia and Africa.

The 1st degree diploma was awarded to Hami Batoul (Lebanon, group ИФРм1), a 1st year master's student studying Philology, for a video in which she recited Rimma Kazakova's poem ‘In a photo in a newspaper...’. The Diploma of II degree for the collective reading of Robert Rozhdestvensky's poem ‘The movement on Nevsky stopped’ was awarded to the students of group 22ИЛК1 Fan Xingyu, Hou Jiaxin and Cui Guifeng.

The supervisors of the contestants - Candidate of Philological Sciences, Acting Head of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language Olga Barabash and assistant of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language Natalia Zagumennikova were awarded commendation letters for the high level of preparation of the contestants.

For the international students and their supervisors, a tour of the museum's unique exposition ‘The Road to Victory’ was conducted, immersing the participants in the atmosphere of the war years.

After the award ceremony, the students went on a three-day trip to St. Petersburg, which was the main prize for the winners of the competition.

The list of winners is presented on the website.

The works of the winners can be viewed at the link.

Photos provided by the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language of PSU