Polotsk will today announce the winners of the first open district competition of Orthodox literary and musical creativity "Blagovest over Polotsk". As the head of the department for relations between the church and society of the Polotsk Diocese of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Inna Shakhovich, told a BELTA correspondent, the winners' gala concert will be one of the key events of the traditional "Christmas Meetings".
Polotsk will today announce the winners of the first open district competition of Orthodox literary and musical creativity "Blagovest over Polotsk". As the head of the department for relations between the church and society of the Polotsk Diocese of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Inna Shakhovich, told a BELTA correspondent, the winners' gala concert will be one of the key events of the traditional "Christmas Meetings".
For 20 years now, the Polotsk Diocese has been holding themed festive events during the Christmas days. In the last decade, they have been held under the general name "Christmas Meetings" and bring together in Polotsk representatives of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee and the Regional Council of Deputies, and heads of districts that belong to the Polotsk Diocese (there are 11 of them). "This year, the 'Christmas Meetings' have their own peculiarities. The creative competition 'Blagovest over Polotsk' winners will be honored at the celebration. It was held for the first time and generated great interest – we received about 150 applications from residents of Polotsk and the district of the same name, as well as from Novopolotsk residents. Today, a concert of the laureates will take place, and the award ceremony for the winners in different nominations will be held," said the head of the diocesan department.
Irina Shakhovich noted that the jury, which she headed, had a difficult task due to the large number of contestants and the variety of nominations. "But all the difficulties are now behind us, and we are glad that the competition has brought many pleasant discoveries, we have learned a lot, and met talented people of various ages. One of the most striking impressions was made on the jury by a 4-year-old girl," noted the representative of the diocese. She also reported that the winners will be congratulated personally by Archbishop Feodosiy of Polotsk and Glubokoye. It is expected that the festive events will be attended by Vladimir Penin, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee, Vladimir Terentyev, Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, and Nikolai Shevchuk, Chairman of the Polotsk District Executive Committee.