"Project Harmony, Inc." (PH International), with the support of the U.S. Embassy in the Russian Federation, is proud to announce the third year of the Fort Ross Quest Contest –
“Journey from Fort Ross”.
What do you know about Fort Ross, a historic Russian settlement on the west coast of the United States? How is it connected to the birth and development of Russian-American relations in 19th century? What other locations come to your mind when you hear about Russian America? What aspects of Russian-American culture and history can you explore?
In addition to highlighting the cultural ties between Russia and the United States exemplified by Fort Ross, the Contest aims to showcase Russian-American shared history.
This year we invite teams consisting of 3 high-school students (8-10th grades) and a teacher to create a quest or other type of computer game hereafter referred to as “Quest”. They should use the following topic as a starting point:
Imagine the life of your peer who was born at Fort Ross in the early nineteenth century. How did he or she grow up? What other locations connected with Russian-American history did they explore? What role did he or she play in developing U.S.-Russian relations? Develop your quest based on your peer’s achievements, adventures, discoveries and thoughts! Make sure the quest is historically correct and the facts used in your Quest are supported by reliable sources.
The two winning teams will travel to the United States in July 2017 and participate in the annual Fort Ross Festival.
The Contest consists of several stages:
- Contest announcement
- Acceptance of entries: till January 10, 2017
- Review of submitted proposals, absentee selection of semifinalists: January 10 - February 10, 2017
- Skype interview with the semi-finalists: February 10-25, 2017
- Announcement of winners: February 28, 2017
- Winning teams travel to the United States: July 2017
Participation in the contest is free of charge.
Quest Requirements:
- Your Quest should be an interactive game available online. The game should be played online, from any computer or mobile device. No downloading is acceptable. All applications with downloadable Quests or parts of the Quest will be considered technically ineligible.
- The link to the resource should be entered into the application form.
- The Quest should be based on proven facts and historically correct information, including texts, images and other resources.
- At least three facts about the history of Fort Ross should be included into the canvas of the Quest.
- At least two historical destinations connected with Russian-American relations should be included into the structure of the Quest.
- The Quest should be developed in two languages (Russian and English).
As part of the application process, each team should submit a short video presentation meeting the following requirements:
- No longer than 2 minutes. Longer video presentations will disqualify the application.
- The presentation should introduce the team - all members should participate.
- Summarize the idea of the quest.
- Should be in English.
- Uploaded on YouTube.
Team requirements:
- The team should consist of three high-school students (grades 8-10) and one teacher.
- All team members must be proficient in English.
- One teacher cannot lead more than one team.
- Winners of the 2015 Fort Ross Quest and 2016 Fort Ross 2.0 contests are not eligible to participate.
Information about Fort Ross and other aspects of Russian-American relations, useful links, as well as photo and video resources can be found on the U.S. Embassy website's page on Fort Ross - https://moscow.usembassy.gov/fortross.html
To apply, please fill out the online application. To submit the application, please register or log in using your Facebook, VK or Google+ accounts.
Deadline for submitting complete applications for the 2017 “Journey from Fort Ross” contest is January 10, 2017.
If you have any questions, please contact us at fortross@ph-int.org.
