The Russian Geographical Society announces the launch of the international contest "Write Your Question for the Geographical Dictation – 2023". Anyone can join the formation of the question pool for one of the largest RGS events, regardless of age, place of residence, and citizenship.
In 2023, the Geographical Dictation – the international educational campaign of the Russian Geographical Society – will be held for the ninth time. A few years ago, we began to prepare it with the help of not only professional scientists, but also people who are passionate about geography. Since then, more than half of the tasks are created annually by the participants of our contests.
Key requirements for the questions
Subject. The questions should contribute to the development of interest in geography and the popularization of geographical knowledge. They should be focused on general geography and Russia. Foreign territories and names of scientists can appear in questions only in connection with Russia.
Difficulty level. The questions should not be too simple, but should be as clear as possible, and relate only to those geographical concepts, terms, objects, and phenomena that you should know as a result of finishing school geography program. The audience of the Geographical Dictation is extremely wide – these are schoolchildren and students, working people and the older generation. For the most part, they do not have a specialized geographical education and do not have special knowledge, but they are interested in geography, travel, tourism, and expeditions.
Question types. Only closed type questions with answer options are accepted for the competition. Important: there can be only one correct answer in each question. The requirements for the questions and examples of their presentation are given in Appendix No.1 in the Regulations of the Contest.
Number of questions that can be submitted to the contest. There is a strict restriction here – one person can submit no more than three questions to the international contest.
How we choose the best questions. All questions submitted to the contest will be sent for examination. It will be conducted by professional geographers and scientists representing the related sciences (historians, biologists, art historians, etc.). The experts of the contest commission will determine the best questions, which will appear in the Dictation forms. The list of finalists will appear on the website of the Russian Geographical Society no later than May 31, 2023, the list of winners – no later than June 15, 2023.
Details can be found in the Contest Regulations (in Russian).