More than 1000 years in one day: the Journalist Marathon was held in the Presidential Library

 “Do we remember the cognate language?” - today more than a hundred representatives of the editorial boards of school media in St. Petersburg searched for the answer to this question in the Presidential Library. This is how one of the main stages of the annual, seventh city competition “Journalist Marathon” started. This time, together with the house of children's creativity "Yunost", the Presidential Library acted as its organizer.

The Acting Director General of the Presidential Library, Valentin Sidorin, addressed young participants in the competition at the press conference. He stressed the importance of the “Journalist Marathon”, the scale and importance of which are increasing every year: “All events held in the Presidential Library become part of the history of the Russian statehood. And today's marathon has already gone down in history. Now this event is not only a city scale. This is a Russian event. This is an opportunity not only to enrich themselves with knowledge, but also to leave their mark on history”.

The main theme of the competition this year is very important, necessary and relevant - "In the beginning was the Word". “This topic was chosen for our marathon not by chance. After all, on May 24, 2018, we celebrated an amazing date - 1155 years since the emergence of Slavic writing. “In the beginning was the Word” - this is how one of the biblical parables begins, and this word was carried by our ancestors through the millennia”, - said the permanent chairman of the jury, historian, teacher and journalist Yury Zvyagin.

According to the rules of the competition, young journalists, 23 teams of five people each, were to compose, using the materials of the Presidential Library, a problematic article on the origin, development and metamorphosis of the Russian language from ancient times to the present day. To do this, representatives of each team learned to work in the electronic reading room of the Presidential Library and took part in a press conference with Petersburg scholars, writers and researchers at the Presidential Library. Most of all the guys were interested in the development of their native language. In particular, the guests of the press conference were asked about what would happen to the Russian language in the next 30-40 years, how borrowed words and slang influence modern speech and writing, as a result of which historical processes the modern Russian language emerged.

School editorial boards visited the tour of the Presidential Library. The children were demonstrated its new technologies in action and were told about the history of the building itself, which was designed by the famous architect Karl Rossi and where the Holy Synod of Government was located before.

At the end of this stage of the “Journalist Marathon”, the participants of the competition went to other sites - to the Museum of Press and the Pushkin Central City Children's Library. There they learned how newspapers were created at the dawn of the XX century, and also spoke with young St. Petersburg poets. According to the results of this work, they also had to prepare materials, on the basis of which the next day they should impose and issue newspapers. All these publications will subsequently be transferred to the Presidential Library.

Summing up and the solemn ceremony of awarding the winners of the "Journalist Marathon" will be held October 18, 2018.