On 29 March, Friday, the Faculty of Philology held a student’s contest of dramatic reading dedicated to the 225th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin. The event, which was attended by about 100 contest participants and spectators, was organised by the Iosif Sternin’s Centre for Communication Research, the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics, and the Department of Slavic Philology with financial support of the Sternin Foundation.
The event started with a welcoming speech by Associate Professor Zhanna Grachova, PhD in Philology, Dean of the Faculty of Philology. Alexandra Rudakova, DSc in Philology, Director of the Centre for Communication Research and the Chair of the organising committee of the contest explained the procedure of the contest.
Among the jury members were specialists in the field of teaching dramatic reading: teachers at the Department of General Linguistics and Stylistics Professor Natalia Vakhtel, DSc in Philology, and Associate Professor Galina Selezneva, PhD in Philology; poets Professor Dmitry Chugunov, DSc in Philology, and Elvira Parkhots, lecturer at the Faculty of Philology at VSU; and the author and host of the TV show “Visiting the Russian Word”, Associate Professor Sergey Tikhonov, PhD in Philology, as well as lecturers from the Faculty of Philology Associate Professor Marina Panova, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Natalia Kozelskaya, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Maria Salomatina, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Elena Plyaskova, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor Elena Pravda, PhD in Philology; senior lecturer Nadezhda Akovantseva, PhD in Philology, and lecturer Daria Galtsova, and lecturers from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology Professor Marina Sternina, DSc in Philology, and lecturer Elena Vereshchagina, PhD in History.
Among the over 70 participants the contest divided into four nominations were undergraduate and postgraduate students from different faculties of VSU: the Faculty of Philology, the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, the Faculty of Applied Mathematics, Informatics, and Mechanics, the Faculty of Geography, Geoecology, and Tourism, the Faculty of Journalism, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, as well as students from the Borisoglebsk branch of Voronezh State University, and cadets from the Voronezh Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia.
In the nomination “Our Pushkin”, the contestants had to recite lyrical poems by Alexander Pushkin, as well as his poems dedicated to Russia. The winner in the nomination was Danila Kovalev, a fourth year student from the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, who recited the poem “Confession”. Yegor Chernyaev, a second year student from the Borisoglebsk branch of VSU, who recited an excerpt from “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”, took second place. Ksenia Dorokhova, a first year student from the Faculty of Journalism, who recited “Tatiana's Letter” from the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”, and Alexander Gridnev, a first year cadet from the Voronezh Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, who recited the poem “Autumn”, took third place.
The nomination “Dedicated to Pushkin” included poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Sergey Yesenin dedicated to the works and personality of the poet. Also, some students presented their own works: Sofia Zhukova, a third year student from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology recited her poem “Voice” and Ekaterina Baturina, a first year student from the Faculty of Philology, performed her poem “Poetry should not be overwise...”. The winner of the nomination was Sofia Zhukova. Danila Kovalev, who performed a poem by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, took second place. Third place was awarded to Arina Podosyonova, who recited a poem by Sergey Yesenin.
Two nominations of the contest of dramatic reading were devoted to the translation of Alexander Pushkin's poetic works into other languages. Among the participants of the nomination “Pushkin in Slavic languages” were Russian students studying Slavic languages and students of the Russian language at the Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (North Macedonia). Translations of poems by Alexander Pushkin were performed in Polish, Serbian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Macedonian. The winner in the nomination was Tatiana Bondareva, a third year student from the Borisoglebsk branch of VSU, who read the poem “Winter Evening” in Ukrainian. Second place was shared between second year students from the Faculty of Philology Anna Ryzhkova (poem “Prophet” in Belarusian) and Valeria Kirilenko (“Tatiana’s Letter” in Belarusian). Third place was awarded to second year students from the Faculty of Philology Daria Pronkina (poem “Winter Evening” in Macedonian) and Yulia Chukanova (excerpt from the long poem “Ruslan and Ludmila” in Belarusian).
The following Macedonian participants were awarded with special diplomas: Branko Hristovski, Natasha Endrovska, Daniela Caruleska, Victoria Veleva, Igor Trpkoski, Snezana Stoyanova, Zlata Petrusevski, and Frosina Milkovska, who read poems by Alexander Pushkin in Russian.
In the nomination “Pushkin in non-Slavic languages”, the participants recited poems by Alexander Pushkin translated into English, German, French, Chinese, and Turkmen. In this nomination, the winner was Victoria Roshchupkina, a fourth year student from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, who performed an excerpt from “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” in German. Second place was shared between groupmates Olga Strelko, who performed an excerpt from “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” in German, and Tatiana Nasonova, who recited an excerpt from “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights”. Third place was awarded to Yegor Kulakov, a first year student from the Faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, who presented his own translation of the poem “To the Slanderers of Russia” into English, and Ziwen Liu, an intern and master’s student from the Faculty of Philology, who recited the poem “Winter Evening” in Chinese.
Turkmen students Ejegyz Sahetmyradova (“The Song of Prophetic Oleg”) and Maysa Ayidova (“The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”) received certificates. The most popular poems at the contest were: the poem “I loved you...”, which was recited six times in different languages; excerpts from the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”, which were performed 6 times, excerpts from the tales by Alexander Pushkin (4 times), and poems “Winter Evening”, “Burnt Letter”, and “To the Slanderers of Russia”.
All participants of the contest were awarded with certificates and badges with the emblem of the contest and the lecturers who had trained the students for the contest received letters of gratitude. The winners were awarded with prizes, gift editions of books by Alexander Pushkin and books devoted to the onomastics of Alexander Pushkin's poetry and prose by Professor Gennady Kovalev from the Faculty of Philology.
The contest was a real celebration of Pushkin's poetry. It was enjoyable for everyone: the participants, the members of the jury, and numerous spectators. The photos of the event taken by Nadezhda Akovantseva reflect wonderfully the spirit of the contest.
The participants and spectators were unanimous that such contests should become a tradition. Next year's contest will be dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
