Finalists of Russian contest for foreign mass media become known

The finalists of the contest for the foreign mass media have become known in Moscow. This contest has been organised by the Russian public organisation - MediaSoyuz. The ABC Spanish Daily, the Estonian television company Eesti Television and the German television company Deutsche Welle won the contest in the category "About Russia with Love".

Another two categories were called: We Are Neighbours and The Great and Mighty (this was how the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev characterised the Russian language in one of his novels). The finalists in these categories are: the Ukrainian television company Alex, the television agency Khabar from Kazakhstan, the Latvian newspaper Chas and Ukraine's Sevastopolskaya Gazeta.

The main aim of the contest, entitled The Golden Verb, organisers say, is to develop professional contacts between the Russian media industry and the mass media in foreign countries and also to support journalists writing in Russian.

More than 500 newspaper articles, TV and radio broadcasts from different countries had been sent to the contest. The jury comprised well-known persons from the Russian media industry.

The ceremony of awarding the winners will take place on June 19. The first prize amounts to 300,000 roubles (about 8,400 euro), the second and the third prizes - 90,000 roubles each.