Journalism as a means to spread Italian wine in Russia and to create opportunities for the future of young people. These were the aims of the first edition of the Demetrio Volcic journalism award, promoted by the Italian Consulate General in Moscow under the patronage of RAI. The awards ceremony was held today in the Italo Calvino Italian school in Moscow. Named after the historic foreign correspondent of RAI public broadcasting company in the Soviet Union, the award was directed to all Italian language students between the ages of 7 and 23 in all of Russia. Divided into categories by age, the students submitted around 100 articles, chosen one by one by Mr Volcic himself, who then personally conferred the prize certificates to the five winners, giving advice to the aspiring journalists with humility and humour.
“Don’t be the Pravda,” he exhorted, inviting the young people to always try to add something original and personal to the facts they report. “I signed up without great expectations and I’m very surprised now,” commented the winner of age 19-23 category, Taisiya Strelnikova, who was awarded a two-week scholarship at RAI’s school of journalism in Perugia. Taisiya, 19, is studying as a military interpreter at the University of Moscow and hasn’t yet decided what she wants to do in the future, and said that the scholarship “is certainly a huge opportunity to be grasped”. Mr. Volcic affirmed: “I hope the prize is broadened and that Italian students will be able to come to Russia with scholarships in the future.” The ceremony was also attended by the Italian Consul General, Piergabriele Papadia de Bottini, the minister counsellor at the Italian Embassy, Michele Tommasi, and the head of the consulate’s education department, Giuseppe Lo Porto.
