The competition is held to promote traditional spiritual and moral values and patriotism.
Literary works written since 2022 (not previously submitted to this or other competitions) are accepted for participation. They should reflect the selflessness, valor, heroism, and patriotism of natives of Tatarstan during the tasks of the Special Military Operation.
Works are accepted from December 24, 2025, to August 1, 2026, in Russian and Tatar languages in the following categories:
“Novella”
“Short Story”
“Poem or Cycle of Poems”
“Essay”
In the second competition, a new category “Novel” has been established in Russian and Tatar. Applications for the “Novel” category are accepted from December 24, 2025, to October 15, 2026.
The winners of the competition will be announced at the award ceremony on December 9, 2026.
The total prize fund of the competition in 2026 is 6,640,000 rubles.
Winners in the categories “Novella,” “Short Story,” “Poem or Cycle of Poems,” and “Essay” will be published within the list of socially significant literature in 2026, winners in the “Novel” category – in 2027.
Concurrently with the competition, a special educational project “Writers’ School” will be launched. Its task is to work with aspiring patriotic authors: from searching for and developing talents through master classes and lectures by recognized writers to professional support in the process of creating competition works.
The competition is organized by the Republican Agency for Press and Mass Communications “Tatmedia” together with JSC “TATMEDIA” and “Tatar Book Publishing House.”
For reference:
The first open literary competition of patriotic orientation “Geroylar yanäşä” – “Heroes Nearby,” conducted by the Republican Agency for Press and Mass Communications “Tatmedia” from November 12, 2024, to June 20, 2025, demonstrated high interest from the writing community in this topic.
A total of 136 works were submitted to the competition, 95 of which were admitted for consideration by the competition commission.
Works were accepted in five categories in Russian and Tatar languages:
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“Novella”,
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“Short Story”,
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“Poem or Cycle of Poems”,
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“Essay”,
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“Contribution to Patriotic Education in the Republic of Tatarstan through Literature.”
The award ceremony for the winners of the first competition took place on June 20, 2025, at the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Following the competition, the winners’ works were published by Tatar Book Publishing House in a special series – a total of 6 collections.
Due to the high interest shown in the competition in 2025, the republic’s leadership decided to launch a new competition.
