A schoolgirl from Donetsk became a laureate of the “Pride of the Nation – 2026” award

The National Center “Russia” presented the All-Russian Public Prize “Pride of the Nation – 2026”. Among the winners is Sofia Dimakova, a student of Donetsk Lyceum No. 1. She was awarded the III degree in the nomination Generation Mind.

“The artist from Donetsk Sofia Dimakova became the winner of the III degree of the All-Russian public award “Pride of the Nation – 2026” in the nomination “Generation Mind”, – reported in the Ministry.

Applications for the flagship project of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia turned out to be more than a thousand — 1122 from different regions. The winners were 31 people. In this list is a schoolgirl from Donbass.

“As a result of the selection, 31 people became laureates,” the department noted.

Her Memory Code project is an attempt to preserve history through art. Painting, literature and music combine into one whole: 17 paintings tell about the fate of people who have passed the war. A personal family history becomes part of a shared memory.

When I painted these pictures, I thought about the fact that behind every fate there is a person who had dreams, plans, close ones. And if at least one peer, after seeing a job, wants to learn more about his family, then everything was not in vain, said Sofia Dimakova.

In parallel, Sofia won the contest of works “Without a statute of limitations”. Her work helps peers to feel a connection with the past not through dry paragraphs, but through the live voices of witnesses.

“This is an incentive to move on, to win, not to stop there, to make new projects, to set an example for the younger generation,” she added.

Out of 1,122 participants, a girl from Donbass became the winner of the prestigious award. Behind the award are the paintings in which memory lives, and the voice of a generation that does not want to forget.