November 21, 2013 — 10th Runet Award ceremony was held in RIA Novosti Center. The Runet Award is an annual event; the awards are given for achievements in expanding and promoting the Internet in Russia. The event was hosted by the RAEC (Russian Association for Electronic Communications) and the Coordination Center for TLD RU/РФ, and sponsored by the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications.
Before the official ceremony, awards were also given to the winners of the Coordination Center-sponsored Positive Content. Andrei Kolesnikov, the Coordination Center director, awarded the prizes, mentioning that most of the projects receiving their awards are nonprofit. "The contest participants were very enthusiastic in creating something that could bring public profit", Kolesnikov said. The Runet Award ceremony was opened by the Minister of Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Nikiforov, who noted that the Internet is now a seaprate industry in the country economy, and explained how the Ministry plans to develop the Internet in Russia. Nikolai Nikiforov also thanked all award nominees for helping to create a safe and comfortable Internet environment full of good-quality content.
The winners of Economy, Business and Investment award received their prize from Andrei Kolesnikov's hands. "Almost 20 years ago, our country became independent in Internet terms, as .RU ccTLD was delegated to Russia. Today, there are .RU, .РФ and .SU in the Russian part of the Internet, and all these domains constitute the base of the Russian Internet brand. Ten years of Runet Award can prove it". Kolesnikov also announced that one more domain is to join the Russian Internet: two days earlier, the .ДЕТИ registry has signed the contract with ICANN, allowing the new TLD for younger audiences to be delegated in the nearest future.
