On January 15, the winners of the 2nd International Journalism Competition "PRO Lobachevsky 2018" received their awards at Lobachevsky University. The ceremony was timed to coincide with the Russian Press Day. Journalists and guests of the event were greeted by Evgeny Chuprunov, UNN Rector, Sergey Kuchin, Minister of Information Technologies, Communications and Mass Media of the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Alexei Liven, Vice-President of Sarovbusinessbank.

The 2018 winners' list includes twelve journalists: Evgeny Karpov (Nizhny Novgorod State TV and Radio Company), Leonid Muravyov (Russia 1 TV channel), Valentina Glinina, Anna Perevezentseva, Pavel Akkuratov, Galina Nefedova and Mikhail Makarov (Obraz Radio), Evgeny Spirin (Nizhegorodskaya Pravda newspaper), Polina Buyanova (ITAR-TASS news agency), Alexander Makhlin (Nizhegorodskie Novosti editorial and publishing center), Alexander Rezontov (Volga TV company) and Irina Plaksina (Komsomolskaya Pravda publishing house). International Journalism Competition awards came in the following categories: best video material, best radio project, best periodical material, best Internet project, best student project, best portrait of a scientist and best coverage of a scientific and educational event.

According to UNN Rector Evgeny Chuprunov, the good relations that have developed between the university community and the mass media in Russia are very valuable. "We are working for a common cause. The higher the quality and relevance of events and discoveries, the more opportunities for the journalists to prepare interesting and quality materials telling about these events to a wide audience. It is important to join efforts for supporting and popularizing Russian science, which helps to solve national security issues and, on the whole, contributes to the improvement of the quality of life," said Evgeny Chuprunov.

"Sarovbusinessbank is an old partner of Lobachevsky University and is happy to support UNN's scientific and educational projects. We are glad that the competition joointly established by us last year has become a tradition. It is gratifying to see that the quantity and quality of the work done is increasing, scientific journalism is developing in Nizhny Novgorod and, most importantly, it attracts significant interest, thereby raising the level of population's awareness," said Alexey Liven, Vice-President of Sarovbusinessbank.

The PRO Lobachevsky award was established in 2016, when Lobachevsky University celebrated its 100th anniversary. The co-founder of the award is Sarovbusinessbank, UNN's long-term partner. Every year, leading journalists from regional and federal media gather at Lobachevsky University on the Russian Press Day. The Department of Journalism of the UNN Institute of Philology and Journalism is the flagship of journalism education in the Russian Federation. The Department's graduates work in the press service of the Russian President's administration, in the press services of government bodies, state corporations, and in the leading mass media of Russia. Many of the PRO Lobachevsky award winners received their training as journalists at Lobachevsky University.