General Information

Contact

E-mail: historycompetitions@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HCgeorgia3.0/

DVV International - Project Office Georgia
20 Kipshidze street, Apt. 3
Tbilisi 0179, Georgia
Tel.: +995 32 2 25 17 52
Fax: +995 32 2 91 34 75
E-mail: info@dvv-international.ge

Soviet Past Research Laboratory (SovLab)
Kavsadze str. N1, Tbilisi, Georgia
Phone: +995 558 931517; +995 593 785901
Email: info@sovlab.ge
Homepage: www.sovlab.ge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sovlab/

Georgian Association of History Educators (GAHE)
38, street. Z. Paliashvili, Tbilisi, 0179
Phone: +995 593 22 16 08
Email: ntsikhi@gmail.com
Homepage: www.imsa.ge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Georgian-Association-of-History-Educators-290228457853388/

 

About the organisation

DVV International has been working in Georgia through its country office since 2002. With a considerable part of the Georgian population having yet to integrate into the country’s young market economy, education for poverty reduction, active civic participation, and long-term development remains at the forefront of DVVI’s agenda. As the leading professional organisation in the field of adult education, DVV International strives to introduce Georgia to the principles, values, and practices of lifelong learning which are essential for enabling citizens to pursue opportunities for themselves, their communities and the whole country. The overarching aim of DVV International Georgia is to foster the enduring development of the non-formal adult education system.

Soviet Past Research Laboratory (SovLab) was founded in 2010 by historians, journalists, researchers and other people interested in the Soviet past. Its mission is to study and analyse the Soviet totalitarian past and its legacy in Georgia as well as to create an environment conducive to the reflection and debate on this complicated subject. SovLab also encourages the public to take an interest in recent history and explains the importance of participation in research and study of contemporary history.

Georgian Association of History Educators (GAHE) is an independent, democratic, professional, not-for profit organisation. It was established in 1997 by a small group of historians, mostly authors of history textbooks and history teachers. GAHE is committed to promoting responsible history and civic education as a way that deepens and reinforces democratic values in Georgian society.

The history competition

In 2017/18, Georgia held a history competition for school children titled “My Ancestors at My Age”. The competition aimed at raising pupils' interest in history as a subject and at increasing their motivation to study it. History is not just facts and dates, and it is not a thing of the past - it has a big influence on everyday life. Creating history is something everyone can do around them. It was important to bring to light the "hidden" history, to tell stories that are not apparent at first glance and might slip through the fingers.

Learning through research activities was a core component of the competition.

The competition was open for four months, from December 15, 2017 to April 15, 2018. Fifty-six school children from all over the Georgia took part in the competition and submitted 47 entries. Works covered a wide variety of topics: human history, family history, the Second World War and its remembrance, local history and clash of generations, repressions in Soviet Georgia. After long time ordinary people started to appear in the history.

Requirements

The announcement called on 15- to18-year-olds to enter the competition aimed at rediscovering history and the past. Their stories were to be based on easily available materials. For their research they could use both official written documents and materials held in family archives. They could also use oral histories.

This competition was an attempt to make history cross over from the official, national narrative to descriptions of everyday life. This way, school children themselves became researchers who had to find material and work with it. According to the rules of the competition, each entry had to be created under a teacher's guidance.

The language of the competition was Georgian, but those who wished could submit entries in Armenian, Russian or Azerbaijanian. Thus, the organisers of the competition were trying to encourage members of ethnic minorities to participate more actively without a language barrier.

Jury

7 jury members - historians, journalists, teachers, professors of contemporary history - received all 47 applications. They assessed each work from 0 to 10 points. The first three winners received the highest points. The six best essays were published in a brochure.

Awards

The award ceremony was held at the Writers House building in Tbilisi. The three winners received computers and all participants received certificates.

Competition Details