The final event and awards ceremony of the story competition, jointly organized by Zynergy marketing agency and Indigo Printing House, with the support of the LIBRAFF bookstore chain, was held on February 28 at 11:00 at LIBRAFF's "Park Akademiya" branch.
The competition aimed to reveal the creative potential of young writers, introduce them to a wider audience, and increase their recognition in the literary community. Participants presented their stories on the themes of "Chance Meeting," "Letter to the Future," and "Last Day of Summer.".
The submitted stories were evaluated by the jury based on the criteria of the scope of the topic, the interest of the plot line and the language and style features. The evaluation was carried out on a 30-point scale, with 10 points for each criterion. The jury included Shamil Sadiq, associate professor, doctor of philosophy in philology, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Azerbaijan Publishers Association Public Union (ANAIB), Royana Jafarguliyeva and Tarlan Abbasova Latifova.
According to the results of the competition, the winner of the first place was Samira Ashraf with the story "The Last Summer Sonata", the winner of the second place was Mahammad Abbasov with the story "Memory", and the winner of the third place was Elnara Rustamova with the story "The Broken Mirror". In addition to being awarded diplomas and certificates, the winners were also awarded with coupons to purchase the printed products they wanted from Indigo Printing House. Thus, the winner of the first place was presented with a coupon worth 500 AZN, the winner of the second place was presented with 300 AZN, and the winner of the third place was presented with a coupon worth 200 AZN.
Based on the results, 26 stories selected were published under the title "Selected Stories".
The final event was attended by literary representatives, poets and writers, as well as guests. Within the framework of the event, literary representatives such as Minakhanim Akramgizi, a member of the Azerbaijan Writers' Union, Bahiyya Naghiyeva, Sevinj Rza, Alamzar Ilay and Aytekin Mehmangizi also took part. During their speeches, they shared their creative experiences, gave advice to young authors and recited poems. The organizers stated that the main goal of the project is to stimulate the creative initiatives of young writers, contribute to the development of writing culture and form a sustainable platform for the promotion of new authors.