Novopolotsk is preparing to host the international festival of children's and youth media

January 14, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Novopolotsk is preparing to host an international festival of children's and youth media, the director of the city's extracurricular activities center, Natalia Seryakova, told a BELTA correspondent. The idea of holding the festival was born at a reception of citizens, which was held in the oil workers' city last November by the Minister of Information of Belarus, Oleg Proleikovsky. At that time, Natalia Seryakova asked him for support in holding a regional festival of youth media. The proposal was supported by the Ministry of Information and grew into an international festival - a kind of farm club for the international media forum, which Belarus hosted in 2010. The initiative of Novopolotsk residents was also supported by the Union State. According to Natalia Seryakova, it is planned to allocate 2 million Russian rubles from its budget for the festival. Young journalists from Russia, Ukraine, and Novopolotsk's twin cities will be invited to participate in the children's media forum. Work on the festival's concept will be completed in the coming days. Young journalists from Novopolotsk are working on it, so we can hope that it will be full of fresh and extraordinary ideas. For the fourth year, the Novopolotsk extracurricular activities center has been implementing a project to support gifted youth in journalism. Under this project, a children's television studio operates, producing programs for two TV channels in Novopolotsk and Polotsk; young journalists maintain the "Youth Meridian" page in the city newspaper, and also publish two of their own small-circulation newspapers. In total, about 80 children are involved in the center, mastering not only journalism-related professions but also related ones: sound engineering, computer design, etc. Last year, five project participants became first-year students in journalism and literary work departments at various universities in the country. The international children's media festival is expected to be held in Novopolotsk at the beginning of summer. -0-