On October 1 - December 23, 2003, Gazprom’s Headquarters hosted the Company’s Contest of young designers “New Solution”.

Over 200 designers (from Saint-Petersburg, Irkutsk, Magnitogorsk, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Solikamsk, Nadym, Ryazan, Makhachkala, Krasnodar, Cherepovets, Petrozavodsk, Tver and other Russian cities and towns) with over 1000 projects took part in the Contest. Gazprom also received applications by correspondence from Estonia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Israel.

The Contest prize fund accounted for RR 600 thousand. The presented projects were examined by the competent Contest Committee headed by Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman, Mr. Alexey Miller. Sergey Smirnov, Sergey Serov, Erken Kagarov, Sergey Sharovich, Russia’s famous designers and artists, entered the Committee. At the same time, representatives from the authoritative design agencies formed the alternative Contest Committee.

At the 1st meeting held on December 25 at Gazprom’s Headqurters the members of the Contest Committee selected the best projects and determined 60 Contest finalists.

The members of the Contest Committee and reporters received questionnairies and estimated the project quality on a 5-point scale. Each project had a separate digital-code and was voted for in 7 nominations. The projects presented as photographs, sketches and design-models were exhibited in the meeting room. The design-models sent by E-mail were projected onto a screen.

At the 2nd meeting held on December 6 the members of the Contest Committee determined 14 project-winners included in the Contest booklet. The members of the Contest Committee nominated the 3rd place winner, 5 projects were the Contest prize-winners and 8 projects comprised the Contest top winners in different nominations. The members of the Contest Committee adopted a decision not to assign 1st and 2nd places. The alternative Contest Committee announced winner by its own resolution.

On December 23, 2003 the Club “Na Brestskoi” hosted the Press-Conference dedicated to the Contest results as well the Contest Award Ceremony. 15 best projects were exhibited at the Club “Na Brestskoi” famous for its artist and design exhibitions. At the Award Ceremony Sergey Kupriyanov, Press-Secretary of Gazprom’s Management Committee Chairman, summed up the Contest outcomes and informed the participants of the Company’s willingness to organize the 2nd phase of the Contest in 2004. The Committee member Erken Kagarov was fully satisfied with the Contest’s results and said that some of the projects were in line with the world standards.

The Contest outcomes:

Kirill Fedoseyev, the Contest 3rd runner-up, was awarded with the RR 100 thousand Gazprombank’s personal Visa Card.

The following young designers became the Contest prize-winners:
Ernest Grenaderov (the city of Tashkent)
Denis Svistulin (S. Petersburg)
Alexander Sekirash (S. Petersburg)
Svetlana Katargina (Moscow)
Tatiyana Babkova (Moscow)
Vladimir Samoilov (Moscow)

All the Contest prize-winners were awarded with RR 20 thousand Gazprombank’s personal Visa Cards.

The following young designers became the Contest top winners:
Ivan Grave (the Calendar nomination)
Alena Ivashina (the Calendar nomination)
Denis Byvaltsev (the New Year’s Gift nomination)
Alexey Popov (the Original Souvenir nomination)
Tatiyana Ostriychuk (the Poster, Greeting Card nomination)
Anna Nesterova (the Proprietory VIP-Gift nomination)
Eduard Kotsya (the Proprietory VIP-Gift nomination)
Maria Shokurova (the Poster, Greeting Card nomination)
Oksana Zhebel (the Poster, Greeting Card nomination)

Sergey Yudin, Editor-In-Chief of the magazine “Designer” awarded Valery Bumagin with a Special prize from the independent mass-media.

Gazprom will issue a booklet dedicated to the Contest outcomes, comprising some 60 best design projects.

DIVISION OF RELATIONS WITH MASS MEDIA