The jury of the International Children's and Youth Award "Ecology is everyone" has started its work - the selection of the best environmental activities of the competition, the shortlist is published on Rutube.

Entries for the award finaled in October. From April 1 till October 1, 2021 more than 9,500 applications from all Russian regions and more than 300 from 27 countries around the world were received on the project site. About 6 thousand works were accepted, corresponding to the requirements of the nominations, regulations and methodological recommendations of the contest.

"There was not a single region of Russia that did not respond to our initiative. A flurry of works was waiting for the moderators in the final days, when almost simultaneously 2000 applications were submitted two days before the end of their enrollment. All 12 cities participating in the project "Clean Air" of the national project "Ecology" were covered - 170 works. More than 200 works were sent from orphanages, social rehabilitation centers, foster homes, residential schools for children with disabilities from Russia and foreign countries," commented Svetlana Radionova, head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources.

The head of Rosprirodnadzor noted that China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Latin America were the most involved internationally. More than 300 entries were submitted from 27 countries - Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, India, People's Republic of China, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, UK, USA, Turkey, Poland, Moldavia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Estonia, Belarus, Armenia, Abkhazia.

"The children demonstrated to us the way they see the ecological future and what they are concerned about. Now the adults - respected people who were on the jury of the award - start their work. There are about 650 works on the short list. They are posted on social networks and on Rutube. We are already getting a great response from the jury. They say, "We didn't expect children to tell us about the environmental issues they care about in a very meaningful and high-quality way." Many of the jurors comment that the children's work is very touching and brings tears to their eyes. We have a lot of children with special needs. They are on an equal level with everyone else. Great battles and heated arguments will ensue, that's what the jury is for, to choose the best. The winners will be announced all over the country," said Svetlana Radionova, head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources Management.

Rustam Romanenkov, representative of the jury, Deputy Director General of the Arctic Initiatives Center, noted that the award received a great response from the public and there were many applications, as well as interesting and unusual works.

"We all look at the work with the whole family - the nominations "Eco-Family" and "Eco-School". It is very hard to make a choice, there are many decent and challenging works. For example, there is a work where two families from Moscow and Grozny united - dads together with their children made ecological swim "For clear Baikal". One of the schools sent in a presentation applying butterfly therapy in its daily practice and installing innovative trash cans on its premises," Romanenkov said.

A shortlist of about 650 creative works in 12 categories was formed on the Rutube platform for jury members: "Let's Save the Planet Together", "My Eco-Family is My Team", "Young Eco-Blogger", "Eco-Trends", "Eco-School", "Eco-Project", "Eco-Drawing", "Eco-Focus", "Eco-Cartoon", "Eco-Lobbyist", "Young Eco-Journalist", "Ecology in the World".

We would like to remind you that the competition committee of the award is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko. The jury included: Svetlana Radionova - Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Vyacheslav Fetisov - National Goodwill Ambassador of the UN Environment Program, two-time Olympic champion, politician, Rustam Romanenkov - Deputy General Director of the ANO "Center for Arctic Initiatives", Nikolai Drozdov - scientist-zoologist and biogeographer, PhD in biology, professor at Moscow State University, host of the program "In World of Animals," Margarita Simonyan - chief editor of TV channel Russia Today (RT) and "Russia Today" (RIA), Nikas Safronov and Sergey Andriyaka - National artists of Russia, Aniset Gabriel Kochofa - associate professor at Moscow State University. He is the Ambassador Emeritus and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Benin to the Russian Federation. Benin (in Russia and the CIS countries (2012-2016). The following are the main actors: Boris Mashkovtsev - Director of Soyuzmultfilm film studio; Alexander Oleshko - Honored Artist of Russia, TV presenter; Alexey Venediktov - Editor in Chief of Echo of Moscow; Vladimir Sungorkin - Editor in Chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda; Dmitry Dibrov - TV presenter, member of the Russian Television Academy Foundation, Elena Bondarenko - editor-in-chief of Detskoe Radio, Mikhail Kolosov - head of on-air preparation at Rossiya 24, Alexey Kaklyugin - general director of JSC TV Channel 360, Sergey Andriyaka - national artist of Russia, Andrei Feofanov - composer and film producer, Olga Skazkin - environmental activist and designer, Lika Lemeshko - art director of TASS Newm.

The Ecology is Everyone" Award was established by the Federal Service for the Supervision of Natural Resources in March 2021 and is held in accordance with the national development priorities of the Russian Federation. The main project goals include ecological education, popularization of the ecology issue and the principles of responsible attitude towards natural resources, and increasing public activity among young people, including with the help of social networks and "green" volunteering.

During 6 months, children and teenagers from 7 to 16 years old, including children from special institutions, have been posting on social networks (VKontakte, Instagram, Tik-Tok, YouTube, Rutube) drawings, videos, reports, Challenges, actions, flash mobs, projects dedicated to the idea of respect for the environment. Publications of the participants are marked with special hashtags of the Award: #экологияделокаждого #ecologyiseveryone #рпндетям #rpnforchildren.

Award winners and laureates will receive valuable gifts, 50 participants-leaders will go to environmental shift in the camp " Orlyonok " from November 28 to December 18.

The general partner of the Award was the Arctic Initiatives Center. Federal partners were: SIBUR Holding PJSC, Orlyonok Russian Children's Center.

The Project was supported by "Soyuzmultfilm" film studio, RUTUBE, Russian Movement of Schoolchildren, Russian Public Organization of Volunteer Ecologists "Do!", Grand Hotel "Zhemchuzhina", " Utair" and "Azimut" airlines.

Information support for the Project was provided by: Detskoe Radio, Rossiya Segodnya news agency, TASS news agency, Rossiya 24 TV channel, Echo Moskvy radio station, Channel 360, Izvestia MRC, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda Publishing House, Argumenty i Fakty Publishing House, Argumenty Nedeli, Russian Public TV (OTR), TASS News information and education project, FANABI media holding company (Uzbekistan).