The Center for Contemporary Literature and Books on Vasilyevsky (CSLC) aims to revive the Debut literary award, Russia’s most prestigious independent award for young authors, which was created in 2000. The Debut Prize was awarded annually until 2016 in several categories to writers whose age did not exceed 35 years and ceased to exist due to various socio-political reasons.
The revival of the “Debut” award (as an option with the name “Debutant”), as well as the search, selection and distribution of new works of art, is directly related to the identification and support of young talents, as well as to the statutory activities of the CSLC; works that positively influence the patriotic education of youth and the formation of a spiritual and moral personality. Target audience of the project: children of middle and high school age, students, young writers, for whom trying their hand at “Debut” will be a start to a creative life. The project provides for the creation of a new information resource (portal) - (debutant.rf) on the Internet, as a mechanism for selecting the best works of authors, on which the results of the award will be highlighted, the longlist, shortlist of the award and the works of the winners will be published. At the same time, within the framework of the project, seminars will be organized within the framework of writers' meetings and clubs that have been operating for more than 20 years at the CSLC, which not only help authors understand the basics of literary creativity, but also provide an opportunity to be published and become a real writer. The literary award will be accompanied by the quarterly publication of the almanac “Literary Mix” (Mass Media PI No. FS77-35381 dated February 18, 2009), the publication of the best works of young writers of the project in this reference publication, free for readers, as well as coverage of the competition process on thematic Internet -resources. The presentation will take place on October 24, 2021. The geography of coverage is all of Russia.
Experience in carrying out large-scale CSLC projects:
International festival "World Poetry Day - 2018", dedicated to the Year of Volunteerism in Russia, the project "Family Day - all year round" (using state support), "ABS Prize": Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Foundation Prize (1999-2012). ); student festival "CityYoung" organization of the nomination "Artistic Word" (ART-STUDIO project!) (2013-2015), etc.
It is impossible to carry out the project in a shorter period of time: as a rule, works of art by children, teenagers, and inexperienced writers are created slowly (work on the manuscript stretches over several years). We organize: 1st course - Fundamentals and theory of writing (1st year 01.11.2018-30.10.2019), 2nd year - Genre and stylistic features of literary text (2nd year 01.11.2019-30.10.2020 gg.), 3rd year - Creating an image in a work of art, the basics of onomastics (3rd year 01.11.2020-20.10.2021). Youth employment, service to ideals and involvement in long-term creative projects of the country are the best indicator of the well-being of the state.

Goals

1. The main goal of the project is to implement a set of cultural and educational activities aimed at identifying and supporting young writers and poets through the multilateral involvement of the project’s target audience in literary creativity. To achieve the main goal of the project, the following tasks will have to be solved and the following activities will be carried out: - develop an annual literary competition for the Debut Prize. The competition will accept works from authors whose age does not exceed 35 years.
2. Drawing attention to national values ​​and patriotic education of youth.

Tasks

1. The main objective of the project is to implement a set of cultural and educational events aimed at promoting the Debut Prize by involving the project's target audience in literary creativity.
2. Develop nominations and hold a literary competition, which will accept works by authors whose age does not exceed 35 years.
3. To present the literary prize "Debut" as part of the celebration of the national holiday "Writer's Day" - March 3, at which the laureates and winners of the competition will be presented and award ceremonies will be held.
4. Creation of a new information resource (portal) on the Internet as a mechanism for selecting the best works of authors, on which the annual results of the award will be covered, longlists, shortlists of the award and works of the winners will be published
5. Organize coverage of all project events in the media and on a special project website. Ensure the publication of materials selected by the competition commission in the Literary Mix magazine and on the project website. Organize free distribution of the magazine. https://vk.com/club11604757

Justification of social significance

The functional prospects of the project are an active search and promotion of creative initiatives, full support for young talents, the emergence of a worthy galaxy of new names in domestic literature, a “green light” for the highest motivations and creative efforts.
The social significance of the project is the accumulation of the creative energies of young people, the easing of social tension among the population, a sense of belonging to public life, interesting leisure activities, a diverse manifestation of social activity of the individual, the development of the creative potential of fellow citizens and the restoration of the lost positions of the most reading country in the world, the return of writers to readers, and readers to writers.

Geography of the project

Russia

Target groups

1. Children and teenagers
2. Youth and students

In 2015, the number of competition nominations was reduced to four

The competition for the Independent Literary Prize “Debut” in 2015 is held in the following categories: “large prose”, “short prose”, “poetry”, “essay”. The nominations "essay" and "drama" become floating and will alternate. Works that previously participated in the “fiction” category are now considered in the “large prose” and “short prose” categories.

The reduction in the number of nominations is due to the general economic situation. However, the financial reward for the winner remains the same and amounts to 1 million rubles. The total bonus fund of the Debut Prize in 2015 is 4 million rubles.

The jury of the 2015 Debut Prize included: prose writer, playwright, screenwriter, prize winner Andrei Gelasimov; prose writer, laureate of the Triumph youth prize, laureate of the 2009 Debut Prize; poet, prose writer, laureate of the Russian national prize “Treasured Dream” and the Russian-Italian literary prize Vladimir Gubailovsky; literary critic, essayist, cultural historian, laureate of the Anti-Booker Prize, laureate of the Friendship of Peoples and October magazines, Evgeniy Ermolin.

Works for the competition are accepted from June 5 to September 20 by email [email protected] and to the postal address 111141, Moscow, Zeleny Prospekt, 5/12, building 2.

The age limit for competition participants is 35 years.

The “long list” of the award will be announced in early October, and the short list in mid-November. The awards ceremony will take place in the first ten days of December.

The independent literary prize “Debut” was established in 2000 by the Andrei Skoch Humanitarian Foundation “Generation” and is annually awarded to young authors writing in Russian, regardless of their place of residence. In 2000-2010, the only restriction on the award was the age of participants - no more than 25 years. Since 2011, the age barrier has been raised to 35 years.

Rules for the award (2011 edition):

Works created in Russian by writers under the age of 35 and corresponding to the award nominations can be nominated for the competition. Publishing houses, media, public organizations, participants in the literary process, as well as the authors themselves have the right to nominate. Texts published in books, paper or electronic media, as well as manuscripts are accepted for consideration.

All works are submitted to expert readers for reading. Readers carry out a preliminary examination of submitted works. The reader conveys his point of view to the award administration in the prescribed form: with a text rating on a ten-point scale and a brief review-annotation. Based on the recommendations of the readers, a “long list” (long list) of 15-20 works in each category is formed, which is submitted for consideration by the jury. The composition of readers is updated annually by 50%.

The Debut Prize jury consists of six people: a chairman and five jury members. The jury includes famous writers, critics, publishers, and other participants in the literary process. Based on the “long list” (longlist), the jury forms a “short list” (shortlist) of works, which includes three to four works in each nomination. The chairman and members of the jury conduct week-long creative workshops with the award finalists. On the eve of the presentation of the awards, the jury holds a final meeting where it determines the winners in all five categories.

The composition of the jury is completely renewed every year. A member of the Debut Prize jury can join the new jury as chairman of the jury. The minimum break in the work of a jury member invited again as chairman is three years.

The winners are announced and the awards are presented at a gala reception in December each year.

Award nominations:

“Large Prose” - awarded annually since 2000 for a prose work of large form (novel, story);

“Small Prose” - awarded annually since 2000 for a prose work of small form (a story, a selection of stories or miniatures);

“Dramaturgy” - awarded annually since 2000 for a dramatic work (play, drama, cycle of plays, etc.);

“Poetry” (in 2000 it was divided into two categories - “Large poetic form” and “Small poetic form”) - awarded annually since 2000 for a poetic work of any form (poem, selection of poems, poem);

“Essayistics” (in 2003, 2005, 2006 - “Literary criticism and essayistics”, in 2004 - “Publicism”) - awarded annually since 2003 (with the exception of 2007) for the best essay, review, article, essay, documentary work of any form;

“Humor in Literature” - awarded in 2001 for the best humorous or ironic work of any form;

"Children's Literature" - awarded in 2002 and 2006 for the best work for children (of any form);

“Fantasy” - awarded in 2003, 2007 and 2011-2013 to the best science fiction works of any form;

“Kinopovest” (in 2008 - “Film Script”) - awarded in 2005 and 2008 for the best film script;

“Literature of Spiritual Quest” - awarded in 2005 for the best work of any form on a religious and philosophical topic;

“Young Russian World” (I, II and III prizes) - awarded in 2007 and 2008 for the best work (of any form) by an author living outside the Russian Federation and writing in Russian, regardless of citizenship.

Special prizes:

"Voice of a Generation" The annual special prize was established by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Mikhail Shvydkoy in 2003. The prize encourages young writers to be social and is awarded for talented and truthful reflection of the life of modern youth in literature. Awarded from 2003 to 2007.

"For courage in literature." The special prize was established by the Board of Trustees of the Independent Literary Prize “Debut” on the initiative of the co-chairman of the Board of Trustees Dmitry Lipskerov in 2001. When awarding a prize, the determining factor is the artistic level of the work submitted to the Debut competition. The prize is awarded if the author of the work has demonstrated extraordinary personal qualities and became a writer despite harsh life circumstances. The Board of Trustees does not designate the Courage in Literature Award as an annual award: it is awarded only when there is a viable contender. Awarded in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

"For progressive poetic text in music." Awarded from 2000 to 2005.

"Fantastic". Established on the initiative of the founder of the Debut Prize, head of the Generation Humanitarian Foundation Andrei Skoch in connection with the large number and high quality of works in the science fiction genre that entered the competition in 2010 in the absence of a corresponding nomination. Awarded since 2010.

In 2015, the competition for the independent literary award “Debut” for young authors is held in the following categories: “Large Prose”, “Small Prose”, “Poetry”, “Essays”. The number of competition nominations has been reduced from six to four due to the general economic situation.

The coordinator of the award is Olga Slavnikova, the executive secretary of the award is Vitaly Pukhanov.

In Moscow, on the new stage of the famous Pyotr Fomenko Workshop theater, the wonderful ceremony of presenting the DEBUT award for the 2013 season ended - award coordinators Olga Slavnikova and Vitaly Pukhanov, founder Andrey Skoch.
The 2013 jury is Pavel Sanaev (chairman), Oleg Bogaev, Dmitry Vedenyapin, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Pavel Kryuchkov, Roman Senchin.
The winners of the coveted bird and a prize of one million rubles were in six categories:
1. POETRY - Leta Yugai. Poems from the series “Notes of a Wandering Folklorist.” (Vologda)
2. ESSAYS - Ekaterina Ivanova (Fedorchuk). A selection of articles and essays. (Saratov)
3. DRAMATURGY - Dmitry Bogoslavsky. “External Sides,” “Girls,” plays. (Minsk, Belarus)
4. FICTION - Anton Botev. "Schrödinger's Cat", a story. (Moscow)
5. SMALL PROSE - Alexander Reshovsky. A selection of stories. (Moscow)
6. LARGE PROSE - Alexey Lesnyansky. “The flock goes to the wind,” story. (village Khyzyl-Salda, Khakassia) -

All finalists were awarded diplomas and gifts.

Having received the debut chick, Alexey Lesnyansky said: “Get ready, little bird, for Siberian exile. But it’s better than any resort there.”

Anton Botev decided to spend the material component of the award on “Good deeds - helping political prisoners.”

Debutantes of past years (from left to right): playwright Ksenia Stepanycheva, shortlisted DEBUT-2013 prose writer Keren Klimovsky, critic and prose writer Alisa Ganieva (pseudonym Gulla Khirachev), critic Valeria Pustovaya, prose writer and fan harp player, master of playing the harp Irina Bogatyreva

Theater critic and literary critic Tatyana Ratkina and Ivan Klimov

German Klimov with his wife Galina and son Ivan.