In Grozny, First Caucasian Internet Prize "Prometheus-2011" awarded

Yesterday, on November 2, in the city of Grozny, the official ceremony of awarding the winners of the First Caucasian Internet Prize "Prometheus-2011" was held.

The awarding ceremony was attended by famous journalists, representatives of web-resources from the North Caucasus and other Russian regions, and popular bloggers of the South-Caucasian Federal District (SCFD).

More than 300 applications were submitted to participate in the First Caucasian Internet Prize "Prometheus-2011". The number of applicants included not only bloggers, but also websites of public institutions, commercial organizations and NGOs. The panel of judges chaired by Shamsail Saraliev, Chechen Minister on Public Relations, National Policy, Press and Information, included famous journalists and bloggers, public figures and officials from the North Caucasus. They evaluated websites and blogs of various subjects by 9 major categories within three months.

In the category "Best web resource of the state authority of the North Caucasus", the first place went to the website of the Press Service of President and Government of Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) ("President-kbr.ru"); second place went to the official website of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Chechen Republic ("Mon95.ru").

The "Godudu.com", the multilingual social network, established in Dagestan, was recognized to be the best social Internet project of the North Caucasus. In the category "Best educational Internet project of the North Caucasus", the first place went to the "Gakish.com", the Chechen website for children and their parents; the second place went to the "Prikcdt.ru", the Information and Consultation website of the Kuban District of the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR) of the Children's Creativity Centre.

In the category "Best entertainment Internet portal of the North Caucasus", the first place went to the "Shax-dag.ru", the social network and entertainment Internet portal; the second place went to the "Kavkaz-fm.ru", the Information and entertainment Internet portal. The design of the official website of the Ingush band "LKN" ("Lkn.ru") was awarded to be the best Internet project design.

In the category "Best information Internet resource of the North Caucasus", the first place went to the website of the GTRK (State TV and Radio Channel) "Stavropol" ("Stavropolye.tv"); the second place went to the website of the ChGTRK (Chechen State TV and Radio) Channel "Grozny" ("Groztrk.net") and the RIA "Dagestan" ("Riadagestan.ru"); and the third place went to the "Galga.ru", the information and analytical Internet portal (Republic of Ingushetia).

In the category "Best corporate website of the North Caucasus", the "Kavkaz-etno.ru", the Caucasian ethnic store, won the first place; the prize for the second place went to the website of the school of arts named after M. Esembaev ("Ensesambaev.ru'). The blog of Kanta Ibragimov, Chairman of the Writers' Union of the Chechen Republic ("kanta-ibragimov.livejournal.com"), and the website "Erdu.info", created by Zelimkhan Tesaev, the blogger and the member of the Youth Parliament of the Chechen Republic, became the best debutant of the Caucasian section of the Internet.

The "pcnariman.livejournal.com", the Internet magazine of Nariman Gadjiev, the director of the RIA "Dagestan", and the "malsagoff.livejournal.com", the LiveJournal webpage of the blogger Makhmud Malsagov, became the best social and political blogs of the North Caucasus. The second place in this category went to three blogs at once: the "timur-aliev.livejournal.com", the blog created by Timur Aliev, Assistant to Head and Government of the Chechen Republic, the veteran of the Chechen blogosphere; the "chetnik.livejournal.com", the blog created by Andrei Chetnikov; and the " benni95.livejournal.com", the blog created by Aslambek Ibragimov.

In the special categories, the awards also went to the "timag82.livejournal.com" blog for the special contribution to the development of the Caucasian blogosphere, Madina Sageeva for the best social action on the Internet (raising donations for the medical treatment of seriously ill children and poor families) and the journalist Beslan Tsechoev ("beslan-cechoev.livejournal.com") for organizing the first meeting of the Caucasian bloggers.

The Grand Prix of the First Caucasian Internet Prize "Prometheus-2011" went to the GTRK (State TV and Radio Channel) "Stavropol" ("Stavropolye.tv") and the blogger Nariman Gadjiev from Dagestan ("pcnariman.livejournal.com"), who in his speech urged the participants "not to chase" the ratings at the LiveJournal and to express their civic position.

After the event, the participants visited the "Grozny City" complex, which included a business centre, hotel and apartment buildings, and managed to look at the renovated Chechen capital from the 45th floor. Then, the participants also visited the biggest mosque in Europe, which was considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world.

"For us, it was not only the opportunity to participate in this event, but also to see the city of Grozny, which was transformed into the oasis of hope for the republic's residents, who had lost their relatives and friends during the two wars," the participant Dmitry Zakharchenko shared his impressions with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "The very event was interesting, and the programme of stay in Chechnya was rich enough."