The eight winners of the second annual Smirnov Journalism Competition were announced on 5 December 2016. The total prize fund was RUB500,000. The competition was organised by the Rostov Region Public Chamber, the Rostov Region Union of Journalists, and Center-invest Bank.
The Smirnov Journalism Competition was set up in memory of the late Professor Smirnov from Southern Federal University.
The competition theme this year was social enterprise. Journalists from nine Russian regions were invited to submit creative work showing how they had used the media to showcase best practice in social enterprise in Russia. A total of 122 entries were received.
The award ceremony was held in the House of Journalists of the Rostov region’s branch of the Russian Union of Journalists. The audience included friends, colleagues and students of Professor Smirnov.
«It is wonderful to discover new names in journalism every year,» said Elena Smirnova, chair of the competition jury. «This competition encourages everyone to give some thought to social enterprise, as well as to patronage and philanthropy. We are pleased that again there was a good number of entries. And the quality of the work is even higher, with entrants showing a deeper understanding of the competition theme.»
This year’s competition was held as part of the Social Investments 2016 project, in partnership with Center-invest Bank and the business magazine Expert-Yug.
One of the most important tasks facing Russian society today is to meet the country’s need for social enterprise. This has been the subject of many academic papers, including work by Professor Smirnov.
Social enterprise is entrepreneurial activity intended to alleviate or resolve social problems. It is characterised by the application of new, unique approaches, self-financing and financial sustainability, expansion of the social enterprise’s operations (at the national and international level), and sharing of experience (the model) in order to increase the social impact.
The activities of a social enterprise should be effective and useful. The effectiveness comes from innovation, scalability, and replicability, while the usefulness relates to the social impact and entrepreneurial approach.