The goal of the “Class!” contest is very simple: to identify the most literary gifted high school students and help them develop their talent. Simply put, to contribute to the emergence of a new generation of brilliant writers, even at the stage when this very generation is scrutinizing exams and taking school tests. Contest participants are invited to write a story on one of the topics proposed by the jury members and one of the winners of previous seasons; these stories ultimately compete against each other.
This year, the competition is being held for the sixth time and more than 13,000 schoolchildren from 80 regions of Russia and 8 CIS countries took part. 50 people made it to the final. Their works were judged by a jury consisting of Anna Matveeva, Yana Vagner, Dmitry Vodennikov, Vadim Panov and Nina Dashevskaya. The results were summed up at the Moscow International Book Fair on Sunday, September 8.
The winners were Dmitry Danilov (Tver), Polina Smelgina (Krasnoyarsk region), Sofia Simonova (Saratov), Dmitry Semenov (Moscow), Alexander Masyakin (Yaroslavl region), Anastasia Polyakova (Moscow). Daria Baranova from Arkhangelsk received the grand prize of the competition – a trip to the Forum of Young Writers of Russia and the CIS countries. The prize was presented to her by Jana Wagner, who commented: “It was a great season. We had parables, fairy tales, dystopias. Before you is the author of a dystopia. This is an incredible text, intelligent, philosophical, frightening and hopeful. Dasha, you made us very happy, keep writing.” The author of “Wongozer” (on which the popular TV series “Epidemic” was based) and the recent “Tunnel” certainly knows what he is talking about.
Yana also liked Dmitry Danilov’s story – “a truly adult, intelligent and subtle text”. (By the way, Dmitry won three times: in the category “Teachers’ Choice”, in the choice of the magazine “Youth” and in the choice of jury members – his story was also noted in the category “Senior Citizens’ Choice!”) And the chairwoman of the jury Anna Matveeva singled out the story of Sofia Simonova: “I couldn’t help but feel that I was close to a great talent, young and fragile, I really want everything to work out for her – both in creativity and in life”.
Science fiction writer Vadim Panov admired Polina Smelgina’s work: “It is very difficult to write a good science fiction story, because you have to invent something that does not exist and make the reader believe in it. Polina succeeded, and all the members of the jury agreed with me.” And the director of the competition, Anastasia Skorondaeva, presenting the award to Anastasia Polyakova, said: “Your story is unexpected from the beginning to the last line. This is a very adult text.”
You can read all the stories of the winners and all the finalists of the contest here.
