All-Russian literary competition with international participation "The Artic Star - Umka" is initiated by the "Roev Ruchey" Park with organizational and methodological support from the Main Department of Education of Krasnoyarsk City Administration and financial support from the "Project Management Office for the Development of the Arctic".

The general partner of the competition: Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization "Project Management Office for the Development of the Arctic" (Moscow)

Partners of the Competition:

• International Affairs Division of Mayor’s Department of Krasnoyarsk City Administration
• Main Department of Education of the Krasnoyarsk City Administration
• Municipal Public Institution "Krasnoyarsk Information and Methodological Center"
• Main Department of Education of the Krasnoyarsk City Administration
• Krasnoyarsk branch of the Russian Geographical Society
• Federal State Budgetary Institution "United Directorate of Reserves of Taimyr"
• Federal State Budgetary Institution "Tunguska Reserve"

The Competition is focused on the animals of the Northern Hemisphere and the symbol of Arctic - the polar bear - as a threatened species. One of the goals of the Competition is strengthening international relations between Russia and other countries based on mutual cooperation, understanding, friendship and collaborative work to preserve the nature of planet Earth.

Aims of the Competition:

• drawing attention to the necessity and importance of saving the polar bear as an indicator of the stability of Arctic ecosystems and a unique representative of the Arctic animal world
• developing children and adolescents' ability to express their attitude toward nature- and culture-related values through creative writing;
• developing their literate culture and communicative competencies;
• improving ecological literacy and developing a pro-active life stance on rare and endangered animal species;
• for foreign participants specifically: improving writing skills in Russian, increasing interest in learning Russian. 

Age groups:

• 4 to 7 years old (preschool);
• 8 to 11 years old (elementary school);
• 12 to 14 years old (secondary school);
• 15 to 18 (high school).

Terms of the Competition:

from December 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023.
Competition works supplied with a filled in Application form (See Appendix to the Regulations) must be sent by January 31, 2023 in electronic format to the following
e-mail: (with the subject: “на конкурс «Умка»”.).

The results of the Competition will be published no later than March 29, 2023 in the Park’s official group on Vkontakte website: https://vk.com/roevruchey and the winners will be notified to the addresses they provided with the works.

5 to 18 year old children can participate in the Competition by providing their works in five nominations: a story, a fairy tale, a poem, an essay, a feature article.

A story - a prose work which traditionally depicts one or more events in the hero’s life. The range of characters in the story is limited; the described action is short in time.
A fairy tale - one of the genres of folklore or literature. An epic, mostly prose writing of a magical, heroic, or lifestyle nature. A fairy tale is characterized by the lack of claims to the historicity of the narrative and an obviously fictional plot.
A poem - a short work of fiction written in rhythmically arranged, usually rhymed lines.
An essay – a short piece of writing covering a certain issue that gives the author's own argument.
A feature article - a variation of a small form of epic literature — a story written in a half-documentary, half-fictional genre that describes real events and real people.

The best works will be published on the official website of the Roev Ruchey Flora and Fauna Park, in the Park’s official group on Vkontakte website (https://vk.com/roevruchey), in print media of Krasnoyarsk (by agreement with publishing houses), the winners of the Competition will be awarded diplomas and valuable gifts provided by the partners.

The winners of the Competition are considered the authors of the works that take the 1st, 2nd or 3rd places in every nomination of the Competition and they will receive diplomas of the winners.

The format of the award ceremony will be determined by the organizers in accordance with the epidemiological situation in the region (online or offline).

All participants of the Competition will receive a participant’s diploma, which they will be able to download from the cloud via specially provided link (the link will be available for the participants after the Competition results are announced).

Work submission requirements:

The works should be submitted in a soft copy form, A4, Normal margins, font size - 12 Times New Roman, line spacing - 1.0:

• a story - no more than 5 pages;
• a fairy tale - no more than 10 pages;
• a poem - the following poetic meters are accepted: iamb, trochee, dactyl, amphibrach, anapest. Both cross and parallel stanzas are accepted;
• an essay – no more than 2 pages;
• a feature article - no more than 5 pages.
• the title page is required for all of the categories above.