Polina Derbeneva won the Grand Prix at the student festival "Spring ASU - 2025."

The XXVI Open Student Festival "Spring ASU - 2025" took place at Adyghe State University from April 1 to 15, featuring 500 students who presented over 100 artistic performances to the jury. The competition program showcased both individual performers and student creative groups. Winners were determined in various categories, including music, dance, theater, original genres, and team performances. 
 
The coveted Grand Prix of the festival was awarded to Polina Derbeneva, a student from the Faculty of History at the Institute of Culture and Humanitarian Knowledge of ASU. She captivated the audience with her performance of the song “The Candle Burned.” In collaboration with the folk dance ensemble “Nart” from ASU, she will proudly represent Adygea in the final of the All-Russian festival “Russian Student Spring.” Additionally, the winner in the team performances category was the competition program “Aladdin,” presented by the Institute of Exact Sciences and Digital Technologies of ASU.
 
Students from the Adyghe Pedagogical College named after Kh.B. Andrukhaev, the Adyghe Republican College of Arts named after U.Kh. Tkhabisimov, the Polytechnic College of the Maikop State Technological University, and Adyghe State University—represented at the festival by teams from five institutes, the ASU branch in Belorechensk, and the Maikop State Humanitarian and Technical College of ASU—took part in the festival.
 
The performances of the contestants were evaluated by a distinguished jury that included Lidiya Konovalova, the director of the ASU Culture Center and head of the regional directorate of the Russian Student Spring Program; Egor Sergeev, the head of the youth policy department of the Maykop Municipal Administration; Bislan Nagoev, the artistic director of the RA Concert Association; Sarah Achmiz, an honored worker of culture of the Republic of Adygea and head of the Acting Department at ARKI named after U.Kh. Tkhabisimov; Angela Khakuy, a ballet dancer from the State Academic Folk Dance Ensemble of Adygea "Nalmes," who is also a People's Artist of the Republic of Adygea and an Honored Artist of Russia; and Janeta Stash, the choreographer and head of "ALFA STUDIO."
 
"ASU Spring - 2025" is organized by the ASU Culture Center with the support of the Youth Policy Department of the Administration of the Municipal Formation "City of Maykop." Since 2009, the festival has served as the official regional platform for the student creativity support program "Russian Student Spring," and its winners annually earn the right to represent Adygea in the final of the All-Russian festival "Russian Student Spring." This year, the event is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of Adygea State University and the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.