Sochi 2014 Paralympic Reporter project selects winners

The first issue of the "Paralympic Reporter" will be published in Germany and Russia before the Games and the following issue after the Games.

Sergey Shilov, a six-time Russian Paralympic gold medallist in cross-country skiing and Sochi 2014 Ambassador, has delivered a workshop in Moscow to a international team of young journalists who won a competition to become Paralympic reporters.

Shilov told the young authors about the Paralympic Movement, the history of the Paralympic Games, Paralympic sports and his own sporting experience.

For the first time ever, the Paralympic Winter Games will take place in Russia from the 7-16 March, as nearly 600 athletes from 44 countries contest for 72 sets of medals across five sports.

The "Sochi 2014 Paralympic Reporter" international competition was held in the run-up to the Games. Members of the expert jury chose the 14 best young writers from Russia, Germany and Great Britain, who will travel to Sochi in March to work for the “Paralympic Reporter” newspaper.

The young reporters will watch the competitions, conduct interviews with Paralympic athletes, and prepare articles for the newspaper, which will be issued in millions of copies as supplements in the leading printed publications of Russia and Germany.

The winners of the competition in Russia were six young talented people: Anastasia Arinushkina and Anna Lisina (Lomonosov Moscow State University), Vladislav Radyuk (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich), Tatyana Popadieva (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), Anton Latynin (Higher School of Economics National Research University) and Anastasia Rusavskaya (State Budget Educational Institute Comprehensive School 469).

The contest was open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 21. To participate, entrants had to write a report, feature or interview on the topic "People with disabilities in sport" and a short essay on "Why I want to work as a journalist on this project."

The jury determining the competition winners included the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee, Vladimir Lukin, two-time champion and Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games Ambassador Olesya Vladykina, and two-time Paralympic biathlon champion Vladimir Kiselev.

The first issue of the "Paralympic Reporter" will be published in Germany and Russia before the Games and the following issue after the Games. The print run for each publication in Germany is approximately one million, and will reach approximately 2.5 million readers. In Russia, the publication will appear as a supplement to Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers.