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#18 - JRL 8242 - JRL Home
INTERNATIONAL CONTEST OF POETS WRITING IN RUSSIAN

LONDON, June 7 (RIA Novosti's Alexander Smotrov) - A day after the 205th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, London will host the final of the poetic tournament Pushkin in Britain.

Alex Oborin, the project manager, told RIA Novosti that the poets' contest is today the largest annual international forum of the Russian poetry abroad. The goal of the tournament is to reveal gifted poets living outside Russia and support their creative development. Participating in the contest are poets from Russia, Great Britain, Ukraine and other CIS and European countries.

The tournament was founded by the London literature association Master Class, the London-based Lady Info magazine, the Vagrius publishers (Moscow), the London Info weekly and the First Russian Radio (London).

The tournament will consist of two stages. In the beginning, all those who want to try themselves in Russian language versification had to present ten works, one of which should begin with the famous line, "What London needs is early for Moscow."

The children's nomination (under 14) and special prizes will be introduced for the first time in the 2004 tournament. In the children's contest, one of the poems should feature the "I just recalled this wondrous instant" line.

The competent jury has selected the best out of the presented works, and their authors have been invited to the open final of the competition in London's Menier Art Centre. The jury of the 2004 tournament includes poet Rimma Kazakova, radio presenter Seva Novgorodtsev, director of the Moscow Vagrius publishers Natalia Mordvintseva, member of the Russian Poets' Union Mikhail Popov, and poet Vadim Stepantsov. The organizing committee invited editors of some Russian language publications abroad.

A special guest at the tournament was Russia's Ambassador to London Grigory Karasin.

During the evening, competitors will be able to read up to three poems of theirs. Then, the audience and the jury will vote behind closed doors and choose the King of Poets, the Vice King and Herald.

The first place prize will amount to 300 pounds, the second and the third - 200 and 100 pounds respectively. Moreover, a number of other prizes will be available, including a three-day cruise British Isles.

The poems that won the tournament will be published in the Russian media abroad and also at russianlondon.com, russiancourier.com, london-info.org and ladies-info.com.