Head of the Office of Priority Projects and Programmes, SSU, Associate Professor of the Department of Literary Studies and Journalism Maria Yerokhina has become the winner of the All-Russian competition – the first season of the Lecturers’ League in the Media and Marketing section. The awarding ceremony took place in Moscow on December 1 at Digital Business Space.

There were selected 100 best out of 2500 applications from Russian lecturers, and only 50 people became the winners. Winning cups made of rare rocks were presented to the best lecturers by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Knowledge Russian Society Sergei Kiriyenko. As a reward, the finalists are to receive 500 thousand rubles grants for professional development and the development of their educational projects.

In the finals, Maria Yerokhina presented a lecture titled the Telegram vs. TikTok: Choose or Lose. She shared her impressions about the competition. ‘The Knowledge Society is a completely special phenomenon of the Soviet and now Russian culture of enlightenment. Today, thanks to the powerful support of the Government, the Knowledge is being relaunched, and the first season of the Lecturers’ League has convincingly proved that not only the listeners but also the experts themselves have a sincere desire to continue the work of the “academy of millions”. The 100 finalists, who met in face-to-face competitions in Moscow, represented universities and business companies, journalism and manufacturing, IT and the public administration sector. Here, both senior undergraduate students and “silver-aged” lecturers were together.’

‘And despite the fact that out of 2500 applications in the first season only 50 participants became the winners, of course, we all won – we met new people, found out about new ideas, faced the expert positions, and were thrilled by live performances. The selection for the spring league is already open – and this is an excellent competitive chance for our students and fellow professors, which I sincerely advise you to take advantage of.’

The Lecturers’ League is aimed to find professionals from different industries who are ready to share their knowledge and experience with the audience. Sergei Kiriyenko noted that in six months more than 7000 lecturers had joined the Knowledge Russian Society (KRS), who delivered more than 15 thousand lectures throughout the country. The competition was held in four stages: at the first part the applicants had to register, then they had to record their lecture on a camera without editing, at the semi-finals the lecturers spoke online on the portal and in the KRS social media, and in the finals the best speakers gave lectures at the top Russian universities.

The selection of the best lecturers in the country this year took place from September to December. Almost a third of the speakers represented the Social Sciences and Humanities section, followed by Career and Business, and the third nomination in terms of the number of applications was Media and Marketing. All the competition winners received the honorary status of a lecturer at the KRS and had an opportunity to speak at the best venues in the country. At the same time, all the finalists of the Lecturers’ League were presented trip to the unique historical and natural area of ​​Russia: Baikal, Altai, or Kamchatka. In addition, the winners had an access to a library of mini-courses of the partner of the competition, Netologia company.