Published on: 2026-09-16
Source: Government of the Russian Federation –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the International Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg, the final of the sixth season of the international #WeAreTogether award and the public voting for the finalists have begun. You can vote in the Max messenger until October 15 inclusive. The final results will be formed taking into account the evaluations of the honorary jury and additional points for the public vote.
“The #WeAreTogether Award has been encouraging individuals and organizations who are ready to take responsibility and help those in need for six years now. The selection process consists of several stages, and the winners gain the opportunity to develop their skills, join the community, and scale their projects. The final stage of the national track involves 81 finalists from 35 regions of the country, with the majority of finalists representing Moscow. The residents’ vote in this system carries no less weight than that of the experts. The people for whom the projects were created understand better than any jury what truly works where they live,” noted Tatiana Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister and co-chair of the organizational committee of the #WeAreTogether Award.
The winners of the regional stage were 1,509 participants from all regions of Russia, with 582 participants advancing to the semifinals. The final featured all categories of the award: community leaders, mentors and heads of NGOs, authors of social projects from nonprofit organizations and companies, as well as subjects of the Russian Federation and municipalities with comprehensive programs for the development of volunteering, socially oriented NGOs, and charity.
“In our country, the volunteer movement began to actively develop before the Sochi Olympics, with the personal support of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Since then, it has reached an all-Russian scale. Currently, millions of citizens are involved in volunteering, and no major international event takes place without the participation of volunteers. Proof of this is the International Youth Festival, which included 2,000 people in its volunteer corps. The #WeAreTogether award of the national project “Youth and Children” helps express gratitude to those who create a reliable rear, implement useful initiatives where people find support and necessary assistance. In its sixth season, it received a record 60,633 applications from 155 countries around the world—16% more than the previous year,” emphasized Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
The nomination “Heroes of Our Time” included the project “Support Our Defenders” by the charitable foundation “For Vyatka” from the Kirov region (humanitarian convoys and weaving camouflage nets), the project “UAZ to Donbass” by Sergey Shilov from the Novosibirsk region (repair and delivery of vehicles to the front), the project “10th Region. We Don’t Abandon Our Own” from the Republic of Karelia (a network of volunteer points), the chatbot “KSVO-Pravo” from the Kursk region (free legal assistance to families of SVO participants), the “Children of War” project by the Charitable Foundation of Dr. Roshal (help for children affected in combat zones), and the program by the Association of Corporate Psychologists for labor readaptation of SVO participants, implemented at “Sibur”, “Rostec”, and “Rosseti”. The partners of the nomination were the All-Russian People’s Front and the state fund “Defenders of the Fatherland”.
“The projects that made it to the final of the #WeAreTogether award have concrete results, where assistance reaches the regional or national level, becomes systemic, and at the same time accessible to those in need. This is help for thousands of people, organizing and collecting tons of humanitarian cargo, practices that are already working in the regions. The most popular nomination in the ‘NGOs and projects’ category was ‘Heroes of Our Time’ – more than 6,000 applications. These are initiatives supporting participants of the special military operation, their families, and residents of border areas,” noted Grigoriy Gurov, head of Rosmolodezh and executive secretary of the award’s organizing committee.
In the nomination “Country of Opportunities,” the finalists included all-Russian and international projects: the audiovisual project “Light of the Great Victory” at Mamaev Kurgan (Volgograd region), the patriotic campaign “Snow Landing of the Russian Student Brigades,” the international campaign “Memory Garden,” the project “No Statute of Limitations” by the Russian Search Movement, the project “In the Footsteps of Forgotten Estates” from the Penza region (volunteers clear estates from the 18th to early 20th centuries, two have already been purchased by investors), and “Dobro.Center Novouralsk” from the Sverdlovsk region. Among the finalists of the nomination “Code of Mercy” are the “Rehabilitation Center on Wheels” from the Republic of Tatarstan (a mobile rehabilitation complex for rural residents), the “Champion’s Path” project of the Adaptive Hockey Federation, and the “White Cane” festival of the Diana Gurtskaya Charitable Foundation. In the final of the nomination “Sustainable Future” are the wildlife protection center “Instinct” from the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the homeless animal assistance program “Povodog,” and the environmental initiative “Clean Yamal.”
For the first time, participants of the special nomination “The Power of Unity,” introduced in the Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia, made it to the finals: the project “Emergency Assistance – #IHelp in Dagestan” by the company Avito, the project “Tot.Language” by the Total Dictation Foundation (a dictation in 26 national languages), the project of the Assembly of the Peoples of Tatarstan “Tatarstan is multinational. Let’s support OUR heroes,” the municipal center “Call of the Land” in Saint Petersburg, the charitable car rally “One Motherland – One Family,” and the umbrella project “Soul of Russia” by the Innosocium Foundation, which united representatives of more than 190 peoples and ethnic groups of the country.
Natalya Morova from the Republic of Mari El – an educator with 55 years of mentoring experience, Vera Lazareva from the Volgograd Region – organizer of “silver” mentoring for children from orphanages, Bekir Eredzhepov from the Republic of Crimea – instructor of the All-Russian Student Rescue Corps, Valeria Gorbacheva from Moscow – coordinator of the BRICS International School, Mikhail Grebenyuk – co-founder of the mentoring project “Generation,” and Seda Kasparova from Moscow are competing for the title of Mentor of the Year. Among the finalists in the “NGO Leader” category are Vyacheslav Belyakov, director of the Total Dictation Foundation; Evgenia Grechkina, head of the “Rear Army” organization; Alina Setova, president of the Raoul charitable foundation; and Artur Kushakov, project manager of “Right to Support” at the Pravoslavie Mir Foundation.
In the “Generation of Good” category, featuring teenagers aged 14 to 17, the finalists were the project “Art as Therapy” by Sofya Streltsova from Moscow (performances by young artists in military hospitals), the project “Financial World for Everyone” by Angelina Krestovskaya from the Kursk region, and the school festival “We Are Children of One Motherland!” from Ryazan.
In the “Companies” category, 1,153 applications were submitted. Among the finalists are the “Stations of Good” of JSC “RZD”, the corporate volunteering program of “Sibur” — “People Changing the World”, the retraining center for veterans of the Special Military Operation of Synergy University, the inclusive cafe “Teplica.berezhno” from the Rostov region, and the center for children with developmental features “KaDiKu” from Yugra. In the “Territory” category, in the nomination “Subject of the Russian Federation,” the finalists were Perm Krai, where 34 “Good.Centers” operate in 24 municipalities; Sverdlovsk Oblast with the “Uralochka” map, which converts volunteering hours into points and discounts with partners; Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, where a “Good.Center” is open in each of the 13 municipalities; the Republic of Mordovia, which gave the country the club “28 Petel” with 100 branches across Russia; Vologda Oblast with the “Laboratory of Good” for teenagers; and the Donetsk People’s Republic, where the project “#WeAreTogether.Water” delivered more than 2 million liters of water in a year. In the nomination “Municipal Formations and Monotowns,” the finalists were Snezhinsk, Dimitrovgrad, Novosibirsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Skopin, and Ivanovo.
The status of a prize finalist is not only recognition but also real support for the further development of the project. The measures include informational support on federal TV channels, radio stations, and outdoor advertising across the country, a year-long educational program with in-person modules in year-round youth centers of Rosmolodezh, inclusion among the lecturers of the Russian Society “Znanie” with access to studios in 12 cities of Russia, travels across Russia under the “More Than a Journey” program, participation in the business program of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, and thematic shifts in federal children’s centers.
In addition, socially oriented NGOs that are finalists of the award will receive priority rights for free or discounted rental of premises owned by the state or municipality. They will also have the possibility of being granted the status of “Partner of National Projects” and simplified access to providing services in the social sphere.
Out of 5537 international track applications received from 155 countries worldwide, 18 projects from 16 countries of six macro-regions made it to the final. The Americas are represented by Colombia, Canada, and Mexico; Europe by Portugal, Serbia, and Germany; the Asia-Pacific region by Nepal, India, and the Philippines; Sub-Saharan Africa by Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria; the CIS by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan; and the Middle East and North Africa by Iraq and Tunisia. The international track of the sixth season is linked to the UN International Year of Volunteers, co-organized by Russia. In total, 99 participants became finalists of the sixth season.
“A finalist of the award gains access to the community and support system. Over six years, about 750 participants have passed through the final, and most continue to work together: the federal club ‘Mayak’, regional clubs of finalists, joint humanitarian missions. And in the UN International Year of Volunteers, our finalists also go to overseas platforms,” emphasized the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy, head of the Dobro.RF ecosystem Artem Metelev.
The public voting takes place in a special application (bot) in the Max messenger and is available to registered users. The user selects the nomination they are interested in, reviews information about the finalists and their initiatives, and casts their vote – one vote per one finalist in each nomination. The voting progress is open: the number of votes received is visible to all participants. The public voting is held among the finalists of the national track. For the first time this season, public voting is also launched for projects of the international track – it takes place on dobro.org platform. The project leader who receives the highest number of votes will be invited to the International Forum on Civic Participation #WeAreTogether in December.
Alongside the popular vote, an honorary jury composed of members of the award’s organizing committee and representatives of partner companies will begin its work. From October 5 to 28, experts will evaluate applications on the platform and conduct online presentations with the finalists. The award winners will be announced at the International Forum on Civic Participation #WeAreTogether, which will take place from December 2 to 5, 2026.
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