At the final meeting of the competition committee at the Ministry of Information and Press of Saratov Region, which took place on April 9, the winners of the 2020 Best Books annual regional competition were determined. In total, 95 books, albums, teaching aids from 23 publishers and authors were submitted to the competition this year.
The monography by Irina Lebedeva – And There Was a War ... (Turning the Pages of the War Diaries), published by Saratov University Publishing House, was named the best book in fiction and journalism. The book is based on a diary – a chronicle of the war years. In it, an attempt was made to recreate the library everyday life of Saratov University employees. The diary of Anna Grozevskaya and the memoirs of the SSU Scientific Library staff, including Vera Artisevich, testify to the events in which they happened to be eyewitnesses and participants.
Irina Lebedeva for 20 years (from 1999 to 2019) worked as director of the Regional Scientific Library named after V.A. Artisevich. All in all, her working experience at Saratov University is almost half a century.
In the best design and design of the publication nomination the third place was given to the book titled Their Names Are in Our Memory: In Memorium, prepared and published by the staff of Saratov University. This is a work about teachers, staff and students of two universities – Saratov State University and Saratov State Medical University. A monument was installed in their memory on the campus 50 years ago.
The author's team of the book includes experienced scientists and graduate students, university veterans and students of different years. Under the guidance of Professor, Doctor of Philology, Book Editor Elena Yelina, B.I. Borisov, A.K. Filippov, A.V. Vlasov, Anton Luchnikov, Larisa Rudneva, and Vladimir Hasin. The staff of Balashov Institute, SSU, Geology College, and the College of Radioelectronics took part in the preparation of the materials. An important contribution was made by the director of SSU Publishing House Irina Buchko and the director of the SSU Printing House Yurii Terebin with his teams. The design project of the book belongs to R.G. Savkin.
In the Best Book on the History of the Fatherland and Local History nomination the 3rd place was taken by the book of ornithologists of the Faculty of Biology of Saratov University – the Birds of the Khvalynsk National Park by Amirit Publishing House. Its authors are Associate Professors of the Department of Animal Morphology and Ecology Alexander Belyachenko, Ekaterina Mosolova, and Evgenii Melnikov, Associate Professor of the Department of Botanics and Ecology, SSU, Olga Davidenko, and Associate Professor of the Department of Ecology, SSTU, Anderi Belyachenko.
The monography summarizes information on the composition of the avifauna of the Khvalynsky region over the past 100 years, analyzes the author's observations and original field materials from the end of the last century to the present day. This made it possible to describe the features of the biology and ecology of 194 birds living in the national park.
According to the official website of the regional government, the winners of the competition will be awarded with diplomas and cash prizes. Traditionally, the awarding ceremony will be held within the framework of the Volga Wave book fair in October this year.
