The award ceremony for the winners of the national contest of journalists Iskra Yuga 2024 (Spark of the South, in Russian) named after V. V. Smirnov was held on 31 January 2025. The contest was organized by Center-invest Bank and the Expert Yug business media company.

A total of 545 submissions were received from 138 editorial offices across Russia. An expert jury of 23 editors-in-chief and media experts selected the best stories in 11 nominations. A separate nomination was dedicated to work of the non-profit sector and successful practices of social entrepreneurship. The prize fund of the contest was 500 thousand rubles.

"The competition of journalists’ work is important because it is competitions that keep the market of creative professions moving. Journalists, participants of the contest, choose themes and characters that are distinguished by their concern for the common, the use of the new, the ability to reproduce the experience of the characters, and once again prove by concrete examples that honesty is the most important capital in the South of Russia," emphasized Vasily Vysokov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, Professor, Doctor of Economics, in his welcoming speech.

In addition to the awards ceremony, the final day included a master class for journalists and an open meeting of the Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Field of Media Communication of the Rostov Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

You can read the works of the finalists and winners, as well as watch the master class and award ceremony video on the contest website.