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About the Results of the VI International Competition of School Compositions on Works by Mikhail Sholokhov (on the 115-year Anniversary of the Writer)

Absentia International Sholokhov competition of school composition was held for the 6th time. Its goal is attracting students of general and secondary special educational institutions to the creative development of the artistic wealth of Russian literary classics, the works of one of its most prominent representatives Mikhail Sholokhov.

The competition was implemented as a joint project of the Department of Russian Literature of the Institute of Humanities of the Moscow City Pedagogical University, National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve and the editors of the scientific and educational magazine "World of Sholokhov."

The jury included scientists from Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, and Vyoshenskaya: Doctor of Philology, Professor, Honored Scientist of Russia, Leading Researcher at A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Science, the Editor-in-Chief of magazine “World of Sholokhov” Yury Dvoryashin (chairman); Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of Russian Literature in the Moscow State Pedagogical University Alfia Smirnova (co-chair); Chief Researcher of the National Sholokhov Museum-Reserve Lyudmila Razogreeva; Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Russian Literature in Moscow State Pedagogical University Serghey Vasiliev (deputy chairman); Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Russian Literature of the Southern Federal University Tatiana Osipova.

Each year, the jury receives substantial, emotional, vibrant works from different regions of Russia and from some countries of the near abroad. Pupils and college students share their impressions of the works of Mikhail Sholokhov, from visiting stanitsa Vyoshenskaya and other places connected with the life and work of the writer, delves into the history of his family, which often passed through tests similar to those depicted by the Don author, think hard about the present day, how Sholokhov’s texts help to find moral guidelines, to develop a civic position that would benefit the Country.

In 2020, the number of participants in the competition is small. This is likely due to the difficult epidemiological situation and the rapid transition of educational institutions of the country to a remote form of work. Received 6 works from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov and Nizhny Novgorod regions, the Altai Republic, 2 works from Kazakhstan. One work was discontinued due to plagiarism.

The proposed themes of works made it possible to write a work in different genres: an essay, a literary analysis of a work, a linguistic sketch, an art history article. Traditionally, preference is given to the “broad” topic “My Sholokhov,” but there were works of a linguistic nature (analysis of the method of metonymy in the writer's works) and art history (referring to illustrations created based on the works of Sholokhov). All works were checked taking into account the age of students. Each was examined for the presence of plagiarism - direct incorrect borrowing of other people's phrases, as a rule, gleaned from Internet sources.

The jury thanks all the students who sent the work to the Competition, and their mentors - teachers who assisted their wards. Each participant will be sent a diploma or certificate, and letters of thanks will be sent to the teachers. Special thanks for the organizational assistance in conducting the Competition to the Museum of Mikhail Sholokhov in the village of Darinskoye (Kazakhstan), its director Olga Chekanova and the guide, the head of the literary study group Alina Murzina.

The competition once again demonstrated the relevance of Russian literary classics, the lively, informal response of young readers of different ages to Sholokhov’s stories and novels, the significant role that the writer's works continue to play in literary education and the moral formation of students. 

In parallel with the Competition of composition, the same organizers held another, closely related to it, IV Competition of methodological works devoted to the study of Mikhail Sholokhov in secondary schools. The winners were Manat Aubakirova, a teacher of the Russian language at the secondary school No. 35 of Pavlodar (Kazakhstan) and Andrey Zamaldinov, a teacher of the Russian language and literature at the Pervomaisk secondary school in the Ulyanovsk region. (Russia). These enthusiastic teachers sent voluminous and informative methodological materials of various nature, allowing more competent and efficient work with materials of Mikhail Sholokhov in a comprehensive school. The participation of teachers in this kind of methodological work is especially important, since it is their qualifications, training, life position, activity, personal charm that largely determine the level of training of their students.

Serghey Vasiliev