TV presenter Svetlana Zeynalova: "The future belongs to our regions"

A huge number of talented young people live in Russian regions. Svetlana Zeynalova, actress, TV presenter, and ambassador of the SHUM All-Russian Youth Award, shared this with the press office of the National Centre RUSSIA. She unveiled the details of her work in the expert committee and shared her impressions of the finalists' projects. According to Svetlana Zeynalova, she consciously took on the responsible role of an expert because she believed in the importance of supporting young talents from different parts of the country.

"I myself asked to become an expert. I knew perfectly well that I would have to spend a lot of time and effort assessing the works. And I said that I wanted to deal with the regions, because regions are power, and they represent the real SHUM. It's our regions, indeed, especially the youth, who can really produce some noise (shum in Russian). Many talented young people live there. And in general, I believe that the future belongs to our regions. As a result, the level of the finalists' works turned out to be so high, and the projects themselves were so sincere and professional, that not only did not I regret the time I had spent, but I also discovered a lot of new things, and literally wrote down the interesting finds in my notebook," said Svetlana Zeynalova.

The actress highlighted several important aspects that she noted in the finalists' works: "Modern youth media show an amazing ability to speak to an audience about love, family, homeland, themselves, what they want, and what they are going to do in order to grow and develop, in simple and understandable language. It is especially important that many teenagers who find themselves in a difficult situation cannot sometimes talk to adults, but they have a chance to watch some videos and think about something."

According to Svetlana Zeynalova, she was very impressed by the projects from Donbass, including those dedicated to heroes.

"I saw a video report from Donbass, where kids wished the military a Happy New Year right on the front line, dressed in Snow White costumes. This is not just a professional job, it is also an example of incredible fortitude and love for their land. At the same time, many participants dedicated their projects to ordinary people, those who are called "heroes among us" — like doctors, teachers, and miners. We never think of these professions as romantic or prestigious, but they are — they are extremely important strategic professions for our entire country and all mankind. Society can exist without bloggers or actors, but never — without these professions," concluded the Award ambassador.

The prize-giving ceremony for the winners and prize-winners of the SHUM  All-Russian Youth Media and Journalism Award was held at the National Centre RUSSIA on 25 October. The award is held by the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and the Government of the Kaliningrad region. It is one of the flagship projects of the year-round Rosmolodezh's SHUM Youth Educational Centre.