‘The Event That Changed Everything. The Power of Help’: Terms and Conditions of the All-Ukrainian Essay Contest, 2025

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, The Museum of Civilian Voices announces the fifth anniversary essay competition on the theme ‘The event that changed everything. The power of help’. The contest aims to highlight the importance of peace as a fundamental value of society, the resilience of Ukrainian youth in the face of war, and their ability to overcome challenges and find hope even in the most difficult times.

The contest starts on March 21, 2025. Students in grades 8-11, first and second-year students of colleges, vocational schools, and teachers from general education schools, colleges, vocational, and technical institutions from all regions of Ukraine are invited to participate.

Please note: Essays can be submitted until May 21, 2025, exclusively through the official registration form on the Museum’s website (civilvoicesmuseum.org/) in electronic form.

Winners will be announced on July 21, 2025, on the Museum's website.

To explore the topic of the essay, ‘The event that changed everything. The power of help’, the participants must select one or more blocks of questions and answer all the questions in the selected block(s):

Question Block #1: Help for you. Was there a moment during the war when the help you received fundamentally changed your life or worldview? What was it like? What were your feelings and thoughts at that moment? How did it affect your perception of humanity during the war?

Question Block #2: Help from you. Have you ever helped others during a full-scale invasion? What exactly did you do, and how did it affect the lives of those around you?

Question Block #3: Help around you. Was there a mutual aid event in your family that was a turning point for you? How did it change your perception of Ukrainian unity and influence your vision of the future — both personal and national?

According to the contest rules, the essay on the topic ‘The event that changed everything. The power of help’ must:

— Be written in Ukrainian and contain up to 1,000 words;

— Be submitted in electronic format in Microsoft Word: Times New Roman font, 14 pt, 1.5 spacing, margins: top - 1.5, bottom - 2, left - 2.5, right - 1.5, page numbering - bottom, center, font color - black, text alignment - justified;

— Be signed by the author with the indication of their last name, first name, date and year of birth, current region and place of residence, region and place of residence before the war, the name of the educational institution where they are currently studying/working, contact phone number, and email address;

— For students: Be sure to indicate the last name and first name of the teacher who inspired you to write the essay. Teachers who involve the largest number of students in the essay contest will receive special prizes from the organizers;

— Be original and unpublished. Plagiarism or copying of other people's thoughts or stories is prohibited;

— Be based on real events and true stories;

— Be created by the author independently. Co-authorship is not allowed.

The copyright to the essay is transferred to the contest organizer.

The following works are not eligible for the All-Ukrainian Essay Competition:

— works that do not meet the contest requirements;

— works that promote violence, racism, xenophobia, sexism, or contain hate speech, overt or covert advertising of goods, services, or organizations;

— works that are written partially or fully using artificial intelligence;

— works that submitted after the deadline for submission of works to the contest;

— works that are not submitted through the official registration form on the Museum’s website are not allowed to participate;

— If the author has participated in the organizer's essay competitions in previous years, they are not allowed to reuse, in whole or in part, any previously submitted and evaluated essay.

Essay contest winners will receive:

— 1st place: Winner's diploma, a tablet as a gift (15 participants);

— 2nd place: Winner's diploma, a mobile phone as a gift (15 participants);

— 3rd place: Winner's diploma, headphones, and a Bluetooth speaker as a gift (15 participants).

— Diplomas in electronic format will be provided to all finalists;

— the authors of the best works among teachers (15 participants) will receive e-books;

— 20 participants with the best works among the finalists will receive incentive prizes –  wireless mice;

— the most active teachers (5 participants) who contributed to the organization of the essay writing process will receive gifts from the contest organizer.

Organizers of the competition: the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation with the support of the State Scientific Institution ‘Institute Of Education Content Modernization’ and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

The competition organizer's contact persons are Alina Klimchyk, Fund Project Manager, phone (063) 235-46-29, e-mail [email protected], Oksana Ishchuk, Fund Project Manager, phone (063) 454-66-49, e-mail [email protected].

The best works will become part of The Museum of Civilian Voices by the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, the world's largest archive of stories about the war in Ukraine. Today, the museum's archive contains more than 130,000 stories.