John William Waterhouse (1849–1917). A Tale from the Decameron(1916)/Wikimedia commons
The first season of Özimiz, the national oral history contest hosted by the scientific and educational multiplatform Qalam has finally concluded! With a prize of 3 million tenge, the competition drew over 260 entries from across Kazakhstan. The award ceremony for the winners took place on 21 August at Nazarbayev University in Astana as part of the 2024 Republican Summit of Educators.
The organizers explained that the goal of the Özimiz contest was to encourage schoolchildren and students to become real-life historians and document historical events, testimonies, and collective memories of the recent past. Armed with microphones and notebooks, the primary methods of preserving oral history, participants were tasked with capturing the personal stories of real people.
‘The young Kazakh participants, ranging in age from twelve to twenty-five, submitted an extraordinary collection of high-caliber works,’ said Zhar Zardykhan, the chief editor of Qalam Global. ‘These submissions included audio stories, video interviews, essays, and other materials, making it extremely difficult to select the winners. We are truly grateful to each participant for their excellent contributions.’
The jury evaluated the submissions based on the following criteria: the originality and coherence of the story, its emotional and substantive depth, its alignment with the contest's themes and goals, and the quality of the presentation.
The organizers noted that of more than 260 entries, 105 made it to the contest's longlist, and the final shortlist included 24 works. The project’s reach extended across all of Kazakhstan—from Almaty and Astana to Rudny and Pavlodar, from Alakol and the village of Bögen to Baikonur and Shchuchinsk.
The certificate for first place and an award of 1.5 million tenge were awarded to Mansur Sabiruly from Astana, a student of the 9D Quantum Stem School, for his article ‘Love’—a touching and artistically crafted story about a family who, many years after the disappearance of their great-grandfather during repressions, finally discovered information about him.
The second place (with a prize of 1 million tenge) went to Anar Jūmahan and Tolğanai Bekjapar from Taraz for their work on the Karasai Gorge.
The third place and a certificate for 500,000 tenge were awarded to Liana Tovsultanova, a student from Qūsmūryn School No. 2 in the Kostanay region, for her work that tells the story of a deported Chechen family.
Simultaneously, we conducted a reader poll on the Qalam website, where the works that received the most positive feedback were awarded the Audience Choice Awards. The winners in this category were Nūrtileu Qadyrqūl from the East Kazakhstan Region(‘Äjem Aitqan üş äñgime’ or ‘Three Stories My Grandmother Told’); Danagul Amanjol from Shymkent (‘Bekasyl äulie’ or Bekasyl, the Saint); and Nadiya Satulganova from Almaty for her article'Bez nikh ne bylo by nas: Moia sem’ia i istoriia strany’ or '‘Without Them, There Would Be No Us: My Family and the History of the Country'.
In addition to the main prize winners, the organizers also awarded special encouragement prizes to submissions that resonated strongly with the project's editorial team. These prizes went to Diana Kovgan from Astana (‘Altyn Qyz, or the Story of One Love’); Irina Vesnina from Taldykorgan ‘Meniñ süikti qalam, or My Beloved City’); and Sanat Sherubaev from Taldykorgan ‘Özim jaily, or About Myself’).