ASU News

Winners of the Kirimize Janet International Children's Literary Competition 2024 Announced. 

The award ceremony for the winners and diploma holders will take place on November 15 at 16:00 in the concert hall of Adyghe State University, located at 208 Pervomayskaya St.

In the third season of the International Competition of Literary Works for Children named after Kirimize Jane, which took place under the title "Сш1энэу сыфай" ("I Want to Know Everything"), the focus was on discovering works aimed at children aged three to twelve in the "non-fiction" genre. The jury received a total of 60 applications from Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnodar Krai, and Samara Oblast.

The winners in the "prose and poetry" category were Zurab Bemurzov for the book "How Good It Is That I Am Adyg" in the Kabardino-Circassian language, and Zalina Shomakhova for the book "Atlas of Travels to the World of Circassian Numbers and Stories" in Russian. The jury ultimately decided not to award first place in the "illustrations" category; however, second place was jointly awarded to Diana Bogus for her coloring book "Dolls" and Maria Fomenko for her picture story "A Little Story about Circassian Horses."

The winners and prize-winners of the competition will receive cash prizes. The works of the winners in the "Prose and Poetry" category will be published as separate books, with the rights to illustrate these works granted to the winners and prize-winners in the "Illustrations" category. Additionally, the competition partners have established special prizes for the participants. The list of winners and diploma recipients is published on the competition website .
 
Applications for the third season of the Kirimize Janet International Children's Literary Competition were accepted from June 1 to August 31. Authors aged 18 and over, writing in Adyghe, Kabardino-Circassian, and Russian, as well as illustrators of children's works, were eligible to participate in the competition. The submissions were required to be appropriate for the target age group and to exhibit originality in style and artistic techniques. Only works that had not been previously published in print or on online platforms were considered for evaluation.
 
The competition was divided into two categories: "Prose and Poetry" and "Illustrations." Participants were invited to produce works that explore various phenomena of the surrounding world, including flora and fauna, landscapes, science and technology, notable figures from Adygea, the history and ethnography of the Adyghe people, the ethical code known as "Adyghe Khabze," as well as handicrafts and crafts. Additionally, works focused on local heroes of the Great Patriotic War and the partisan struggle against Nazi invaders in Adygea, the Kabardino-Circassian Republic, and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic were encouraged. 
 
Literary works could be created in Adyghe, Kabardino-Circassian, or Russian. Illustrators were tasked with producing illustrations in the comic book genre and the silent book style, which refers to a book devoid of words and text.
 
About the competition: 

The International Literary Competition of Children's Works, named after Kirimise Janet, was established by Adyghe State University and has been held annually since 2022. The competition aims to discover talented authors in the genre of children's literature, promote their work, and engage children in understanding the moral foundations of national culture and the spiritual wealth of the people.
 
The jury comprises writers, artists, art historians, and scientists, and is chaired by Leyla Kurashinova, a writer and Advisor to the Rector of ASU for Culture.
 
In the inaugural season of the competition, the jury received 623 applications from autho