The Silver Mercury Festival is relaunching the Young Mercury XXVI award for students and emerging creators.

The Silver Mercury Festival has announced the relaunch of the Young Mercury XXVI youth award. In this new season, Young Mercury takes the form of a gamified tournament consisting of two parts. Not only students but also young creators up to 30 years old can participate in the award. The application collection for the first stage of the tournament will run from February 26 to April 4, and the award itself will last until April 30.

Previously known as a student competition, Young Mercury is repositioning itself this season - now it is a youth award with an expanded age limit, allowing participation not only from students (ages 18-24) but also from young creators (ages 25-30). To ensure fair judging, the works of students and young creators will be evaluated independently from one another.

The award aims to enhance the skills of young professionals through interaction with company experts - brief providers, and to increase competitiveness in the educational and professional spheres by participating in an engaging tournament that includes webinars, quizzes, and creative tasks.

In the new format, the award represents a tournament made up of two parts with gamified processes (brief solution + race for additional points). CustDev conducted before the relaunch of Young Mercury indicates that creators aged 24-30 lack networking opportunities. This need is addressed in the second part of the competition, where participants not only receive additional prizes but also have the chance to meet professionals in person. It is important to note that the two stages of the tournament are independent of each other and run in parallel.

In the evaluation of briefs, there will be 2-3 representatives from the brief provider company and up to 10 industry experts, including members of the Silver Mercury main awards jury. The award operates with the most transparent voting system: all participants will be able to see comments from each jury member on their project. Every participant, even those who do not make the shortlist, will receive a list of comments from jury members regarding their project. Each brief provider has prepared valuable prizes for the participants of their brief. These may include internships/employment; implementation of ideas within a team; idea buyout, personal sessions with experts, merchandise, company products, etc. Furthermore, the organizers of Young Mercury will offer winners the opportunity to become part of the youth jury for the next season of the main award, and the most active participants and prize winners will have the chance to propose their own initiatives for Young Mercury XXVII.

The remote format of the tournament allows brief providers and creators from regions to participate. Specifically, educational partners of the award now include not only HSE, RANEPA, Financial University, GUU, RUDN, but also regional universities: NNSU, SPbGUPTD, and others.

Project timeline:

- Submission of works: by April 4, participants must register, choose a brief(s), pay for participation, and fill out the project submission form.

- Start of webinars, quizzes, and tasks for obtaining additional points: from April 1 to April 30, brief providers, partners, jury members, and the organizing committee will conduct competitive activities in the race for additional points.

- Jury voting -> shortlist formation: project evaluation by the jury will take place without the participants' online presence (Zoom) - April 8.

- Shortlist admission: on April 9-10, participants who made it to the shortlist will receive an invitation to the online defense. Participants who do not make the shortlist will receive a letter with comments from the jury.

- Main stage: on April 18, the online defenses of the projects of participants who made it to the shortlist will take place. Teams must present their work in 8 minutes and answer jury questions for 3 minutes. Project defenses will be conducted remotely.

- Determination of winners (as per the brief decision): A winner will be determined in each brief: gold, silver, bronze. In case of a tie, the jury chairperson will make the decision on the winners.

- Conclusion of activities for obtaining additional points: April 30 is the last day for conducting quizzes, webinars, etc., for participants to earn additional points. The organizing committee will begin tallying points and determining the most active students and young creators.

- Awards ceremony: Members of the winning teams will receive prizes for solving briefs and participating in the race for additional points at the main Silver Mercury XXVI awards ceremony - June 3-6.

For details click here.