Participants to the contest titled "Telephone and Internet My True Friends" were the boarding school's pupils of the first through tenth year. They submitted over 30 interesting, bright, and original drawings and handmade art to the contest panel. 12 contest winners, with the School's teachers and with their parents, were invited to the Norwecom 2007 exhibition.

North-West Telecom became a member of the Grot School's Board of Trustees in 2005. It is Russia's oldest institution for blind and poor-sighted children established as far back as in 1881, during the reign of Alexander II. Today, Russia has five such schools, of which the K. K. Grot School is the only one in the North-West. 300 children attend it, and for some of them, the school has become their only home.

The communication people not only provide financial support to the school, but also have an active concern in the children's entertainment. The K. K. Grot School was 125 years old in 2006, and the 125th anniversary of telephone communication in St. Petersburg will be celebrated in 2007, so NWT timed the children's creativity contest to these two events.

V. A. Akulich, NWT General Manager, G. B. Chernyak, Associate General Manager (Property Management and General Matters), and personnel of the Company's Corporate Communications Department congratulated the kids on their success in the contest. The children were interested to see the exhibition, they received memorial diplomas, valuable prizes, tasty presents, and above all, bright impressions and cheering emotions.

NWT General Manager V. A. Akulich thanked the kids for remarkable, expressive drawings, emphasizing that the friendship of the school and the communication people was not a mere chance, for telephone communication and the sponsored school are of the same age; this means that the children may be sure to have many more pleasant surprises from North-West Telecom in the future. 

For the spring, a guided tour in the A. S. Popov Central Museum of Communications is scheduled for the children, where they will learn about the history of communications development, walk through the splendid rooms of the palace of Prince A. A. Bezborodko, Chancellor of the Russian Empire, and will hear many curious telephone, telegraph, and postal stories.