Ascending Parnassus Poetry Contest Held for the 20th Time

University for the 20th time. 11 young poets participated.

This year, the Ascending Parnassus contest celebrated its 20th anniversary. In honour of this event, the participants on the improvised stage of the March 13th event included not just new students, but also graduates still involved with the literary arts. The participants performed for a jury, which included members of the Union of Writers of Russia.

“Over these 20 years, we really have climbed Parnassus. We are constantly gathering works by our students and publishing collections. Young students are learning to look at the world from the peak of our Parnassus. This is why our students’ poetry wins at city-wide and Russian competitions.

“With words I see, with words I hear, with words I love…” We are trying to embrace the whole world with our words. We are not indifferent to it, we are always ready to cooperate with other literary collectives and creative collectives from various cities. Right now, we are planning on publishing a few more books of our students’ work,” says head of the literary collective, Student Parnassus and of the Ascending Parnassus contest Liliya Kuleshova.

11 young poets participated in the anniversary event, providing three works of their own writing. The participants included students from very different academic programmes. But all of them are united by the desire to deliver their emotions and experiences.

After a long deliberation, the jury of a poet, soloist of the Premier cover group, SUSU graduate Roman Yapishin, and a poet, author of 2 books, SUSU graduate Yuliya Vinnikova delivered their verdict.

  • Grand Prix – Sergey Polyanskiy
  • Second Place – Nikita Shamoev
  • Third Place – Kristina Chernysheva

Student from the Miass branch of SUSU Sergey Polyanskiy took part for the third time in the Ascending Parnassus contest and took first place for the second year in a row.

“Today I recited three poems, one of which I wrote in just one day thanks to a steady stream of thoughts, and the other two I’ve been writing for a long time, around a year and a half.

As Pablo Picasso said, art is theft. You have to take and rework that what already exists. There are no new topics, but there are new forms, which you can create and try to express.

All of the students were great, the best is still ahead. I wish them to feel confident and to amaze the audience with their works!”

All of the poets were awarded diplomas and special prizes. At the end of the Ascending Parnassus competition, some works will be chosen to represent SUSU at the International South Ural Literary Prize.

After the awards, per tradition, a master class for the young poets was held by Roman Yapishin.

“In the master class, we told every participant a little about what they lack as poets, and we tried to give helpful advice. During the competition, many of them didn’t understand what path to take and what to look for within themselves. In either case, I am always happy to hear the works of young poets. I would really like for us to have more participants.”

The literary collective Student Parnassus was established by the SUSU Recreation Centre in 1999. Liliya Kuleshova, member of the Union of Writers of Russia, continues to act as the head of this collective. She released 15 collected poetry works. When the club was founded, the idea came to create the Ascending Parnassus festival to popularize and support the creative development of young student poets.

Marina Kovyazina; photos by Oleg igoshin
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