On December 10, the results of DOT Journalism, the eighth annual contest for journalists writing about domains and digital technologies, were announced. The contest is traditionally organized by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and RAEC with support of REG.RU.
This year, 170 pieces were accepted for the contest, such as articles, analytical material, columns and reports. About 120 of them were judged in categories for professional journalists and another 50 for the Young Journalists category, which was established especially for novice correspondents aged 18 and younger who publish their articles in school and city media or who write about internet technologies in their blogs and social network accounts.
The jury is comprised of representatives of companies dealing with domains and network addressing, as well as ICT experts.
“The domain industry’s activities, especially technical and international aspects, have always produced a lot of different myths. Journalists play an important role in dispelling these myths, increasing people’s literacy and telling more about how the internet works and how closely it is connected with all offline events (such as the coronavirus pandemic in 2020). The DOT Journalism contest awards those who have progressed most in this area and gives recognition to their best pieces,” said Mikhail Anisimov, ICANN Head of Global Stakeholder Engagement for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, DOT Journalism jury member.
The list of winners in professional categories includes Yulia Melnikova (ComNews), Olga Schneider (TASS), Dmitry Shestoperov (Kommersant), Alyona Zhuravlyova (RBK), Yury Polyak (Information Resources of Russia), and Yekaterina Ulyanova (Social Technologies Greenhouse) among others.
“Without singling anyone out, I would like to note that the general level of the journalist community’s knowledge of technical realities and elements of the internet operation is growing. The technical part of the internet is essential for understanding what the internet is and what isn’t, that it has unique features but that it also has unique challenges, which means it requires unique approaches. These unique features can only be processed by going into detail, and the educational role of journalism here is enormous,” said RIPE NCC External Relations Officer (Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia) Maxim Burtikov, DOT Journalism jury member.
Cyrillic on the Internet, a special category of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, was won by Izvestia correspondent Natalya Ilyina and her article on the level of Russian companies’ use of Russian-language emails.
«Our category is dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Cyrillic .РФ ccTLD, which was celebrated throughout 2020 Many educational events that promote the use of Cyrillic alphabet in domains and emails and address the issue of IDN and EAI Universal Acceptance were held to mark the occasion. I believe we have managed well: the media are covering these topics more often and more eagerly now. We decided to recognize such an article in our special category,” said Coordination Center Director Andrey Vorobyev, DOT Journalism jury member.
Yulia Stepanova (Kommersant) will receive REG.RU’s special prize for a series about phishing and other means of internet fraud.
“It is interesting to watch how the agenda for contest materials transforms from year to year. Of course, cybersecurity is the top topic on the agenda today: there are more texts about internet fraud than ever before. These are the issues that should be raised to educate users and discuss with industry players and regulators, so that your online experience is useful, enjoyable and safe,” said Anastasia Kryuchkova, REG.RU Press Secretary, DOT Journalism jury member.
The leaders in the Young Journalism category include correspondents from school press centers, youth media and novice bloggers from Moscow, Bryansk, Vladikavkaz, Cheboksary, Volgodonsk, and the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions.
Winners of 2020 DOT Journalism
“RAEC was among those who initiated DOT Journalism and who has co-organized it since 2011. Over this period the quality of materials has grown significantly and, what’s more important, the journalist pool has grown, as has the media interest in DNS events. They face important tasks such as popularizing the domain industry, explaining the advantages of domain ownership and improving materials on this topic. The results of this work are clear: this year we held the Digital Dictation on the .РФ domain, and the average score was 7.35 out of 13. This knowledge comes, among other sources, from articles and special projects of the media, which increase the domain literacy level. Small and medium-sized businesses are getting more interested in domains, their marketing advantages and legal aspects of ownership. There also are growth zones: knowledge about .РФ, .SU, and Universal Acceptance, so the contest remains topical and important,” said RAEC Director Sergei Plugotarenko.
This year, due to the difficult epidemiological situation and the cancellation of several industry events, it was decided not to hold the awards ceremony. However, diplomas and prizes will be sent to winners by mail or courier service. They will also receive a set of gifts: devices that will be useful in their studies or work, table games, souvenirs and gift certificates for services offered by the contest’s partners.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and RAEC have held DOT Journalism contest since 2012. REG.RU is the contest’s official registrar, and ROCIT, .ДЕТИ TLD, Rostelecom.Lyceum, the School Press National Agency and Ynpress are its partners. The goal of the contest is to encourage journalists to cover trends and phenomena of the domain industry, as well as key events related to the use of DNS and other internet addressing systems, in their articles, analytical material and reports. The contest also aims to promote domain topics among Internet users, to explain the advantages of owning a domain name and to improve the professional level of materials on internet addressing systems and new technology.
