RULES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEST FOLLOW UP SIBERIA!

1. General Provisions

1.1. The FOLLOW UP SIBERIA! international program announces the start of the similarly-named international contest.

1.2. The contest is not intended to receive any profits or other income and is conducted in accordance with these rules (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). The contest is not a promotional lottery.

1.3. The contest is a list of actions published in the Rules performance of which entitles the Participant obtain a Prize.

1.4. The Prize is a tour to one of the Siberia cities which includes arranging the international flight and paying for the tickets, transfer, hotel accommodation, meals and cultural programme.

1.5. The contest is organized by the Organization Committee of the FOLLOW UP SIBERIA! international project which includes representatives of the Nornikel company and Euronews channel.

1.6. The Organizer has right to make amendments to these Rules with mandatory publication of the latter on the project's official website www.followupsiberia.com.

1.7. The rules of the contest, provisions of the contest, contact information for provision of contest works and legally important messages of the Organizer including information about the Winners of the contest are published on the project's website www.followupsiberia.com and in its official pages on FB and VK:
English language page https://www.facebook.com/FollowUpSiberia/

Russian language page https://vk.com/followupsiberia

2. Procedure and Provisions of Participation in the Contest

2.1. Only legally capable adult person (depending on legislation of the country of residence) may become the Participant of the Contest via personal social media account.

2.2. To take part in the Contest, the Participant from any country, except Russia, should:

• Shoot a short video or take a series of photographs on the topic of "Part of Siberia in My City" which will reflect the Participant's perception of Siberia.
• Post the materials on one or several of the following social media platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Instagram with hashtag #FOLLOWUPSIBERIA and geolocation point.
• For Weibo should be used the FOLLOWUPSIB tag.

2.3. To take part in the Russian part of the Contest (titled the Smiling Siberia online flash mob), the Participant from Russia should:

• Take a selfie while smiling.
• Post it on social media with the #SmilingSiberia, #SmilingRussia and/or #FollowUpSiberia hashtags explaining the tradition of Russian friendliness and hospitality (whether your own perception of it or in general terms).

2.4. All the works should comply with the following format:

• Photo story (1 to 5 photos).
• Short video up to 3 minutes long.

2.5. All works (posts) should be available for public access.

2.6. The Participant of the Contest should not delete or limit access to the works (posts) until March 12, 2019.

2.7. Publishing own works (posts) with the #FOLLOWUPSIBERIA hashtag, the author grants the Organizers permission for non-repayable usage of the provided works for purposes related to the Contest.

2.8. In case of using the Participant's works (posts), the Organizer commits to specify the author of the works (posts).

2.9. By submitting the works (posts) to the Contest, the Participant agrees with provisions of these Rules. In case of non-compliance of the works (posts) with any of the Rules’ requirements, the Organizer is entitled either to expulse the submitted works (posts) from the contest program or to deny the Prizeto the Participant.

2.10. Submittal of the works (posts) to the Contest does not imply any commitments or limitations related to the usage of the works (posts) by the Participant.

2.11. The works (posts) taking part in the Contest should not violate the international legislation or legislation of the Russian Federation.

3. Terms of the Contest

3.1. The Contest is being held from April 2018 through February 2019.

3.2. The winners of the Contest are defined in accordance with the following schedule:

• Acceptance of contest works (posts) and defining the Winner before May 1, 2018.
• Acceptance of contest works (posts) and defining the Winner before July 15, 2018.
• Acceptance of contest works (posts) and defining the Winner before September 15, 2018.
• Acceptance of contest works (posts) and defining the Winner before December 15, 2018.

3.3. Dates of tours (Prize) will be announced by the Organizer on the official website of the project www.followupsiberia.com the day after defining the Winners in accordance with Clause 3.2.

4. Defining of Winners of the Contest

4.1. The Organizer is committed to organize the tours (Prize).

4.2. On each stage of the schedule (Clause 3.2), 10 (ten) Participants are selected as the Winne in accordance with the following principle:

• Quantitative indicators: 5 (five) Winners will be selected from the overall number of Participants with the highest number of marks ("likes").
•  Qualitative indicators: 5 (five) winners will be selected by the Organizer's decision on the basis of the following criteria:
• Originality of the work (post).
• Depth of content.

4.3. Information of the winner of the Contest (name of the social media account and link to it) who won the Prize is published on the official website of the FOLLOW UP SIBERIA! project (www.followupsiberia.com) and in social media of the program.

4.4. The most active winners of the previous 4 (four) rounds of the Contest will be selected to participate in the final round. The selection criterion is as follows: the most active publication of creative works (posts) about the tour on social media. The Prize of the final round is a tour to Krasnoyarsk during the 29 ^th Winter Universiade. Number of participants of the final round is from (four) to 8 (eight) persons.

5. Procedure of Prize Distribution

5.1. The Organizer announces the Winner on winning of the Prize and procedure of its receipt via the message message on the social media platforms where the Contest works (posts) have been published as well as by publication on the official website www.followupsiberia.com.

5.2. The Organizer does not bear any responsibility in case any other person responds via the Winner's account on social media instead of the Winner.

5.3. In case the Participant is announced as the Winner by procedure specified in Clause 4 of the Rules, the Participant should submit the data required for receipt of the Prize within 2 (two) days by the request of the Organizer including the following information: full name, passport data and residence data.

5.4. In case the Winner does not reply to the messages of the Organizer or the Organizer’s representatives' within 2 (two) days, or refuses to receive the Prize by sending the relevant notice to the Organizer's e-mail: info@followupsiberia.com, the right of the Winner to receive the Prize is no longer in force.

1^st round

The first “Follow Up Siberia!” tour organized by Nornickel took place on May 25-28, 2018, in the Siberian cities of Norilsk and Dudinka. It was a success in terms of fulfilling the aim of the project which is based on cross-cultural communication and exchange. Thus, it is no surprise that the international team of the “Follow Up Siberia!” first tour was multicultural (from left to right):

·       Milos Petrovic (Serbia), social media influencer who shares his tips about traveling to specific destinations at the Putuj.rs blog;

·       Mahmoud Mostafa Maher (Egypt), sports journalist, correspondent at the Goal football news website and writer at Alarabiya TV news channel who is very active on social media, especially on Facebook, running the AlYoumShot page with more than 300K followers;

·       Raymond Walsh (Canada), travel blogger, photographer, and writer at Man On The Lam;

·       Anne Lukkarila and Toni Marjanen (Finland), independent entrepreneurs, and bloggers at FinnsAway;

·       Vikram Kamboj (India), sports and travel journalist, co-owner and creator of The Sports Mirror, and social media strategist;

·       George Khalaf (Lebanon), an audiovisual media producer, creator, and a host of the Kazdoura weekly street food review show.

The tour consisted of an extensive cultural program.

May 25

Foreign guests took a city tour and an excursion at the Norilsk regional museum where they got to know the culture and history of the Taymyr indigenous population, as well as the prehistoric and contemporary fauna of the region.

 

May 26

Team members visited the opening ceremony of the Arctic Curling Cup 2018 in Dudinka at the Taymyr ice arena and were introduced to the audience by the host. This ceremony was definitely a highlight of the first day and it gave the tone to the main event by the magnificent performance of the Moscow & District Pipe Band.

Among other conspicuous events was a visit to the Nornickel’s open pit earlier this day. It looked like a bigger version of the Colosseum. The wind was strong, but the view was magnificent, and everyone captured this final scene of an epic battle between man and nature.

Then the participants entered a raw-hide tent (chum) to know more about history, culture, and traditions of the Taymyr natives as told by themselves, and taste their cuisine: reindeer meat, smoked fish, and herbal tea. The food topic was also covered at the traditional Siberian cuisine workshop later.

May 27

The last full day of the first tour started with an excursion to a copper plant. Despite the heat and fumes in the air, everyone was enjoying it thanks to the protective clothing. The photos taken there were truly an eye candy: smelted copper looked like a coat of the Firebird from Russian fairy tales.

Then the team went to the Taymyr regional museum where ancient Siberian mammoth and rhinoceros at first stole the show until the guide took the guests to the next halls.

After witnessing the colorful Arctic Curling Cup 2018 closing ceremony, our brave travelers participated in the Journalists & Bloggers’ Curling Tournament and won the second and third places.

The day ended with a gala dinner at a restaurant in Dudinka. The team member George Khalaf from Lebanon told the audience that it was rather cold in Taymyr for him because it was not the type of climate that he got used to in his native country (by the way, it was from 0 to +2 °C in Norilsk and Dudinka). Nevertheless, he didn’t feel it as much due to the hospitality of local people and necessary amenities in their place, which allowed him to experience Siberia as it is with an appropriate level of comfort.

Contrary to the popular stereotype, no bears were met during the trip. Instead, the team got acquainted with many open, friendly and smiley people who have built vibrant multicolored houses reminding of the Emerald City. Such communication underlined the fact that we are all the same despite our cultural, linguistic and worldview differences. It was truly the major highlight of the first “Follow Up Siberia!” tour.

2^nd round

The second tour of the "Follow Up Siberia!" international cross-cultural project took place in Krasnoyarsk on August 24-28, 2018.

The team was formed of the participants who won the “Part of Siberia in My area” online contest finding some similarities between the place where they currently are and Siberia. In total, more than 500 people from all around the world took part in the second tour contest. Young people from bloggers to journalists and athletes took the most active part.
The winners were:

•    Bruno Bezerra, Instagram Blogger from Brazil
•    Federico Graziati, Digital Marketing Manager from Italy
•    Elena Matić, Brand Ambassador from Greece
•    Jessica Lockhart, Journalist from Canada
•    Joshua Lynott, Athlete from Panama
•    Mridula Dwivedi, Travel Blogger from India
•    Nicholas Morley, Videographer from Australia
•    Pascal Bögli, Photographer from Switzerland
•    Charles Pauly and Lauren Cliff, Travelers from UK

In Krasnoyarsk, the project participants got to know the traditional, modern and friendly sides of Siberia. They took part in the Letniy Gornoluzhnik annual summer mountain puddle rider in the Bobrovy Log Funpark, visited the Stolby nature reserve and even climbed one of the pillars. The team met many outstanding Krasnoyarsk citizens who shared their stories such as Alexander Tretyakov, Olympic skeleton champion and Ambassador of the Winter Universiade 2019; Denis Yushin, founder of the Yushin Brothers barbershop and the famous Russian 91-year-old travel blogger Lena Yerkhova.

The way participants’ perception of Siberia changed was reflected in real time via their posts on social media.

3^nd round

The third tour of the “Follow Up Siberia!” international cross-cultural program launched by Nornickel (the General Partner of the 2019 Winter Universiade) has ended in Chita. The main goal of the program is to promote global awareness of Siberia and the Universiade.

The third tour team consisted of 9 people from 7 countries:

Amanda Antunes Prefiro Viajar from Brazil;

Anica Kolic Putovanja s Anicom / This morning I woke up in from Croatia;

Nala Rinaldo Nala Rinaldo Photography from Indonesia;

Analucía Rodríguez Viajar para Vivir from Peru;

Amy & Nathan Two Drifters - Couples Travel & Lifestyle from USA;

Mike Hinshaw Mike Hinshaw (Nomadic Texan) from USA;

Na Noob NaNoob Napian Official from Thailand;

Nisha & Vasu Le Monde - A Poetic Travail from India.

They discovered different aspects of Siberia in real time on October 6-8, 2018: its traditional, modern and friendly sides, and shared their perception on social media.

On day one the guests took a sightseeing tour across Chita and visited the Regional Drama Theater to see the Golden Mask theatre festival.

The next day, team members participated in an archery workshop which was led by renowned professional athletes who graduated from the local archery school. Foreign guests witnessed the traditional Buryat archery and tried to hit the target themselves.

Then the team went to Aginsky Datsan – one of the oldest Buddhist monasteries in Russia – to meet lamas who told about the history of the monastery.

The highlight of the second day was a meeting with citizens of Chita – active and interesting people: traveler, language school founder, head of the robotics studio, and President of the Transbaikalia Thai Boxing Federation who told about his charity program and work with troubled children.

The third day started with jeep riding and a barbecue in the wild after which the team visited a Buryat cuisine workshop.

The team enjoyed their time in Siberia and did not want to leave this friendly region.

4^th round

5^th round (visit to the Universiade)

Rules 3

The basis of the “FOLLOW UP SIBERIA!” program

The basis of “FOLLOW UP SIBERIA!” is an international creative online competition that will start one year before the beginning of the Winter Universiade and will last until its closing.

Any person can join the online contest by doing the following: find a “Part of Siberia” in your city, i.e. something related to Siberia or similar to its key cultural and historical objects; then shoot a video and/or take from 1 to 3 photos of the object and post them to social media accounts with the #FOLLOWUPSIBERIA hashtag.
Thus, a wholesome image of Siberia will be formed by the participants from other countries, which combines factual information with existing stereotypes.

Tours to Siberian cities
Winners of the online contest will have a unique chance to visit the Arctic Circle and see the midnight sun for the first time in their life, as well as to study the traditions of the natives and appreciate their hospitality.
The staff of the Euronews channel will follow up the participants and document the way their perception of Siberia changes. As a result, TV segments covering the trip will be aired to the audience of 163 countries.
The well-trained English-speaking students of Russian regional universities will have an opportunity help guests and introduce them to the native land.

The basis of the “FOLLOW UP SIBERIA!” program.

The basis of “FOLLOW UP SIBERIA!” is an international creative online competition that will start one year before the beginning of the Winter Universiade and will last until its closing.

Any person can join the online contest by doing the following: find a “Part of Siberia” in your city, i.e. something related to Siberia or similar to its key cultural and historical objects; then shoot a video and/or take from 1 to 3 photos of the object and post them to social media accounts with the #FOLLOWUPSIBERIA hashtag.
Thus, a wholesome image of Siberia will be formed by the participants from other countries, which combines factual information with existing stereotypes.

Tours to Siberian cities
Winners of the online contest will have a unique chance to visit the Arctic Circle and see the midnight sun for the first time in their life, as well as to study the traditions of the natives and appreciate their hospitality.
The staff of the Euronews channel will follow up the participants and document the way their perception of Siberia changes. As a result, TV segments covering the trip will be aired to the audience of 163 countries.
The well-trained English-speaking students of Russian regional universities will have an opportunity help guests and introduce them to the native land.