Presidential Library invites schoolchildren and students to participate in academic competition in history, social studies and Russian language

From September 25, 2025, to March 26, 2026, the Presidential Library and the National Research University Higher School of Economics are holding an academic competition entitled "Russia in the Electronic World" in the subjects of history, social studies, and Russian language. High school and college students enrolled in secondary vocational education institutions in arts programs are invited to participate.

During the Olympiad, students from Russia and other countries will be able to try their hand at each of the disciplines or choose only the subject they are most knowledgeable about.

The results will be summarized based on individual scores. Winners and runners-up will receive diplomas. Participants with the best results will also receive additional points for admission to the National Research University Higher School of Economics and a number of other universities, the list of which is being compiled and will be available on the competition website.

The competition consists of two mandatory stages. The first stage will be held remotely from September 25, 2025, to January 25, 2026. The second stage will be held in person from March 24 to 26, 2026. The winners and prize-winners of the "Russia in the Electronic World" Olympiad from the previous academic year who are continuing their education in organizations that provide educational programs for primary and secondary general education, in the form of family education or self-education, who are studying these educational programs abroad, as well as those who are studying secondary vocational education programs in the arts. Finalists from St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region will meet at the Presidential Library, located in the historic Synod building at 3 Senate Square, while students from other regions will meet at its electronic reading rooms, as well as at the institution's Reserve Center in Moscow and its Tyumen branch.

The competition tasks are developed based on materials from the library's electronic collection, which contains more than 1.2 million digitized copies of rare documents that make up the historical and cultural heritage of our country. Studying the library's resources on the official portal can help participants answer the competition questions as fully and accurately as possible. Students can also practice in advance using tasks from previous years, which are available on the project portal in the Archive section.

The main objective of the competition is to familiarize students with working with archival sources of information on the history, theory, and practice of Russian statehood. The educational project aims to seek out and support young talent and promote humanities knowledge among young people.

It should be noted that since the interactive educational project was launched in 2010, tens of thousands of young people have tried their hand at it, many of whom went on to enroll in leading Russian universities.

Registration for the competition is open from September 25, 2025, on the official portal of the interactive educational project. Information about the Olympiad is available at the link http://olympiada.prlib.ru/. You can also contact the Department of Educational Programs of the Presidential Library by tel. (812) 305-16-51, ext. 243 (Yulia Vladimirovna Golotenko) or by email at olympiada@prlib.ru.