Authors of the brightest visions of the future awarded at the Video Essay Contest at the National Centre RUSSIA

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Seven teams from Russian regions and the near abroad were named winners and runners-up of the II Video Essay Contest "Dreams of the Future", while another thirteen received awards in special categories and prizes from partners. The results of the contest were announced at the award ceremony at the National Centre RUSSIA. The results of the original event were summed up on 7 June.

This year, the Contest gained international status. In addition to young people from Russian regions, teams from the countries of the near abroad also took part: Uzbekistan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Transnistria. In total, 935 entries from 3,740 people were submitted for the contest. A total of 310 video essays passed the selection stage.

"The National Centre RUSSIA was established by order of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as a place of pride in the country. You are all different, but the main thing is to have love for the Motherland, boldness and dreams in your heart. This year, young people from all 89 regions of Russia, as well as participants from 10 countries, took part in the contest. This is especially valuable to us, because this year has been declared the Year of Unity of the Peoples by our President. It is important that, despite all our differences, we dream about the future together. Thank you for taking the risk and sending in your video essays," Director General of the National Centre RUSSIA Natalia Virtuozova noted.

The participants faced a challenging task: to combine AI content and footage featuring all team members in a short video. The young people were invited to create an essay on one of four proposed themes: "Science Unites", "Technology and Nature", "The Future Is Built Today: School, Family, Society" and "Space". Drawing on classics of Soviet literature, the participants searched for a balance between progress and nature, technological development and the preservation of the Earth’s biosphere. Their sources of inspiration included works by Aleksandr Belyayev, Ivan Yefremov, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, as well as films, video games and much more.

"I grew up in a world where science fiction was part of everyday life: at home, we had collections of foreign and science fiction literature, and we read and reread all those volumes. Back then, I could not have imagined that every child would have access to technologies that make it so easy to create video essays and send them anywhere. We have reached the point where your generation will have to test Stanislaw Lem’s thesis that what is created cannot surpass its creator. I very much hope that, in the new world you build, all these technologies will find their best use — for the benefit of people. And that projects like our contest will be applauded by people from even more countries," Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Yelena Galaktionova noted.

First place in the "12-15 years" age category went to the team of the Sevastopol Children’s School of Arts. In their contest video, the young participants looked at the problem of sea pollution from the perspective of its inhabitants and showed possible innovative solutions that could help preserve the sea as a priceless source of life, inspiration and freedom.

"What unites us is that we study together on the same course and live in the same city and country. It is important to us to raise topics that are truly relevant and in demand today. Of course, we had disagreements: we all wanted to do things a little bit our own way. But that is the essence of a team. Everyone wants to bring something of their own, and that is right. If everyone were the same, I think we would not have achieved such a coherent and strong final result," said Vladimir Chernyayev from the Sevastopol Children’s School of Arts.

Second place in this category went to the "MaLiVi" team from the Vologda Region. Third place went to "Solaris" from the Republic of Moldova.

The leader in the "16-18 years" age category was the "Three + 1" team from the Republic of Bashkortostan. In their video essay, the young participants expressed the idea that "technologies should help people get out of capsules, not climb into them", and that technological progress is not an end in itself and should not replace live communication, friendship and creativity.

"Our video is dedicated to the value of live communication. Despite the development of modern technologies, it is important not to forget how significant direct interaction between people is: real emotions, warmth, mutual understanding and a sense of reality. We devoted a lot of time to creating the video: we stayed at college until six in the evening, filmed, discussed and argued. This contest will leave warm and pleasant memories, because teamwork really brings people together," said Semyon Khudoley from the "Three + 1" team.

The jury awarded second place in this category to the "Prime" team from the Republic of Khakassia, and third place to the "KOD — Open Doors Club" team from the Altai Territory.

Director General of the National Centre RUSSIA Natalia Virtuozova presented the main special prize to the "Guardians of the Future" team from Transnistria. All the authors of the video will be able to travel to the branch of the National Centre RUSSIA in the Primorye Territory.

"All the works were very interesting, technological and bright. But one of them touched us especially deeply. That is why we decided to establish a special prize from the National Centre RUSSIA: a trip to our branch in the Primorye Territory. Congratulations to the 'Guardians of the Future' team from Transnistria. In your work, we saw not only sincerity, but also a careful attitude to language. Yesterday was the birthday of Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, our great poet. I am grateful to all the young people from different regions and countries for speaking beautiful Russian in their works. One of the tasks of the National Centre RUSSIA is to preserve our linguistic legacy," Natalia Virtuozova added.

Dmitry Negru, a member of the "Guardians of the Future" team, shared his thoughts on how everyday decisions and human relationships shape the overall picture of tomorrow: "Our video about the future is a story about emotions and about how people show through their actions what really matters in life. Everything we do today, every step we take and every action, can affect the future. Even simple words — for example, telling our mother that we love her — can change what happens tomorrow. Such moments form a chain of events and influence how our actions will be judged and what the future will become."

Two more teams received special prizes from the Skolkovo Foundation, the Chitai-Gorod federal bookstore chain, YOUF Reading Media and the Hedgehog Academy.

This year, for the first time in the history of the "Dreams of the Future" contest, the competition anthem was performed at the award ceremony. The author of the lyrics is Tatyana Balandina, Editor-in-Chief of the Musical Key magazine and a finalist of the "Znanie.Authors" song poetry contest. The music for the lyrics was written by AI. This work is a joint creation of a person and technology, which fully reflects the concept of the "Dreams of the Future" contest.

The Video Essay Contest "Dreams of the Future" continues the work to revive public interest in designing the future, which began at the International Symposium "Inventing the Future". The contest is held as part of the Decade of Science and Technology with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

The contest partners are the Russian State Library for Young Adults, the Council for Science Fiction and Adventure Literature of the Writers’ Union of Russia, the All-Russian Public-State Movement of Children and Youth "Movement of the First", the Federal Foundation for Social and Economic Support of National Cinematography (Cinema Foundation), Roskino JSC, the Russian Union of Youth, Artek International Children’s Centre, the VCIOM Analytical Centre, the Coordinating Council for Youth Affairs in Scientific and Educational Spheres, the National Open Championship of Creative Competencies ArtMasters, the Association of Technology Clubs Participants, the ANO "Creative Economy", the ANO "Russia — Land of Opportunity", the Russian society Znanie, Science@Mail.ru, the Skolkovo Foundation, the All-Russian project TopBLOG, the ANO "Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies", Media Laboratory, Eksmo-AST Publishing Group, YOUF media about reading, the Hedgehog Academy of Modern Professions, Chitai-Gorod federal bookshop chain, YARKO Animation Company, the Video Game Industry Development Organisation, and the NAUKA 0+ International Festival. The information partners are Izvestia Multimedia Information Centre, News Mail and VFocus Mail media projects, the 1MI media holding, News Media Holding, the popular science publications Indicator.Ru and InScience.News, VK Techprosvet, NOP.RF, Snob, Hi-Tech, Knife magazine and News of the First.