Moscow, 17 December 2004. Today, the member of the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" Leonid Gozman presented prizes to the winners of the New Generation Awards.

50 young researchers and students will be given awards in 2004. The first Award winners are student of the Moscow Energy Institute Igor Zolotukhin, student of the Moscow Aviation Institute Anton Orlov, student of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Kseniya Adamovich, and your researchers nominated by the Russian Academy of Sciences: Tatyana Vaskovskaya, Pavel Levashov, Konstantin Khomkin, Alexey Kiselev, Anna Aksenova, Fedor Veselov, Iya Shakhova, Sergey Antipov, Nikolay Vystavkin, Alexey Eroma, Evgeny Marfin, Lyudmila Samburova, and Guzel Mingaleyeva.

The winners have been given diplomas and money prizes.

The annual New Generation Awards were instituted by instituted by the Management Board of RAO "UES of Russia" and the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) on 30 November 2004. RAO "UES of Russia" acts as the organizer and provides funds for the Awards. The Contest is intended to support talented young researchers and encourage their professional development and creative activities.

The New Generation contest seeks research papers which constitute a distinguished contribution to the development of scientific knowledge and are characterized by original approach to scientific problems. Research papers may be submitted by researchers, lecturers, post-graduates of the RAS entities and other organizations in Russia, aged under 35 years as at the time of the paper submission.

Winners are selected by the Expert Commission from among the nominees proposed by the Supervisory Board consisting of well-known Russian academics and RAO UES officers.

The New Generation Awards ceremony was held at the Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of the First International Forum "Energy of the Future" organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Russian Union for Energy Efficiency (RUEE), and the international consortium "Energy Efficient Economic Development", with RAO "UES of Russia" acting as the General Partner of the Forum.

The Forum is attended by participants from state research centers, RAS institutes, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, RAO "UES of Russia", the Chamber for Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, OAO "Gazprom", Russian and foreign academics.