The press service announced on May 18 the first episode of the winners of the National Internet Content Award 2023, organized by the Internet Development Institute. The event honored 16 winners across a range of nominations, highlighting the most impactful online projects of the year.
The award marks its second consecutive year, with organizers noting a growing pool of talented, positive, and creative online initiatives. Projects that deliver meaningful value to viewers are now considered the norm, replacing fleeting hype with lasting impact. The leaders behind these works have repeatedly demonstrated an understanding of how to produce content that resonates with audiences, a point emphasized by the director general of IRI, Alexei Goreslavsky.
Among the category winners, the social and educational project Dedsad, which promotes intergenerational communication, won in the Making the World a Better Place nomination. The short film Sea of Ink tells the story of Sasha, a young sailor from Vladivostok who has not seen his father since childhood, and it was named Best Short Film. The multi-format project The Collapse of the Unipolar World, which addresses democracy crises and the effects of internet and globalization on poverty and inequality, earned Internet Media’s Best Special Project.
The video Time to move to Russia, which accumulated millions of views and attracted international attention, took first place in Best Viral Content. The animated series About Peace and Gosh, focusing on family relationships, was named Best Animated Project. In the Best Music Video category, Basta’s I Believe In You secured the top spot.
Best Podcast went to the project Faith and Thomas Questions or Tea with Jam, a children’s series exploring the universe, history, culture, and religion. In the Best Portrait Format category, the online program Teacher of the Year exceeded 3.5 million views in VK Clips and won recognition for its presentation style and reach.
In the Best Video Content under three minutes category, a social video about the importance of family education and family life, No family is not childhood, produced by the Foundation for Arithmetic Goodness and featuring comments by Sergey Bezrukov, was honored for its message and reach.
In 2023, 66 projects were selected from more than 500 applications to reach the finals of the National Internet Content Award. The award was established to celebrate and promote creative online content and its authors, further underscoring the vitality of digital storytelling across the internet landscape.