A report on the story of a young Ashgabat artist has reached the finals of a prestigious project that judges the decade's best space-themed works.

The All-Russian media competition "Russian Space" will be held for the second time; the first was held in 2016. Roscosmos and the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company are the founders. This time, 149 television and radio companies from 80 Russian regions participated in the project, submitting 315 works to the jury.

This included the report "To Star City" via the Crossroads of Arts. "Dreams Come True," which students from Ivanovo's 23rd Gymnasium dedicated to fulfilling the cherished wish of Ashgabat resident Batyr Sultanov, who painted and sent to Ivanovo a portrait of the cosmonaut detachment commander and head of the cosmonaut training center, Oleg Kononenko.

The young man dreamed of giving the canvas to his idol and asked Ivanovo schoolchildren for help. He already knew that the #23Put media center actively creates space-themed content, receives exclusive answers to its questions from cosmonauts (including directly from the ISS and during post-flight press conferences), and even won a special prize from Roscosmos in the All-Russian competition of study groups in the "Space Education for Schoolchildren" category. The Ivanovo media center's management managed to negotiate with Star City for the transfer of the portrait and allow Oleg Kononenko to ask questions upon his return to Earth.

Incidentally, the details of this very touching Ivanovo story were recently recounted in Ashgabat by journalist and musician Aina Shirova, author of the international cultural project "Crossroads of Arts," in her new book, "Solo on Two Keyboards: From Piano to Computer." In her multi-page work, she repeatedly touched upon Ivanov's story.

Another competition entry by high school students was the program "News from Behind the Desk. Space Edition," featuring exclusive news about those who have defied Earth's gravity. Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, from orbit aboard the ISS, spoke about where on Earth one can experience weightlessness. The salt-filled Lake Molakara was mentioned in a question on this topic. The cosmonaut agreed that such places are very suitable, and that scuba diving also provides a thrill. Ivan Vagner described drawing in space and took from space a photo of Turkmenabat, Oleg Kononenko's hometown.

During a press conference with Anna Kikina at Star City, students learned details about her flight and the lessons she learned from her previous experience as a journalist working on the ISS. At a meeting with Sergei Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev, and Denis Matveyev at Sirius, the media center received exclusive advice for young journalists.

At the school itself, interesting space news traditionally occurred on Cosmonautics Day, during which a delicious marathon was held, as well as on Student's Day, when entire classes tried on space costumes.

The All-Russian media competition "Russian Space" is a large-scale project that has united the entire country: the submitted works reveal and highlight the various facets of Russian cosmonautics. Ahead lies preparations for the final events, which will bring together participants from across Russia in Samara, where a committee will select the best works. The final of the second competition (the first was held ten years ago) will take place on May 22 and will be broadcast live on the Samara 24 channel.

The organizers emphasize that the competition isn't limited to selecting the best report or film. Its true goal is deeper: to shape and strengthen worldviews through the theme of space—among the journalists themselves, their audiences, and everyone involved in Russian cosmonautics.

The "Russian Space" competition, through its participants' work, conveys to society the idea that space isn't a distant fantasy, but a shared responsibility. It represents a shift in worldview: from the consumerist "so what?" to the proactive "what can I do?"

Leonid Kiyashko, ORIENT special correspondent, Ivanovo, Russia, Guild of Interethnic Journalism, Union of Journalists of Russia