Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summed up the results of the ‘I want to be a diplomat’ essay contest and honored winners and laureates in Minsk on 26 May, BelTA has learned.
During the awards ceremony Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov stressed that participation in this year’s contest exceeded expectations, rising by 60% over 2025. Some contestants have returned year after year and improved their standing, reaching the list of finalists and laureates.
The ministry received more than 350 essays from students representing 25 universities across Belarus, as well as 10 essays from final-year school students. A professional jury evaluated the works based on creativity, enthusiasm for a possible diplomatic career, patriotism, depth of analysis and an adequate understanding of diplomatic service.
There were 17 winners: 15 received smartphones as prizes, one participant won a laptop sponsored by the 5 Element electronics retail chain, and one more special prize from Maxim Ryzhenkov - a television set. All winners were invited to complete internships at the ministry at individually arranged times and take part in the annual seminar for young diplomats. Laureates will also be eligible to join the seminar.
“Since you made it here [the awards ceremony at the ministry], this diplomatic spirit and diplomatic mindset clearly beat stronger, more creatively and more interestingly in you than in others,” Maxim Ryzhenkov said, adding jokingly that the ministry uses the contest to attract young, motivated minds into the diplomatic system.
Maxim Ryzhenkov together with senior ministry officials and career diplomats later met with participants for tea, answering questions about diplomatic service as a whole and in different countries in particular, embassy and ministry work, personal career paths and qualities needed in diplomacy.
One of the essays compared a diplomatic service to a salmon swimming upstream. The metaphor described a fish that migrates vast distances yet inevitably returns home to the freshwater river where it was born, overcoming obstacles along the way.
