Penza, 15 September 2015. PenzaNews. The principal of the Penza State Agricultural Academy Oleg Kukharev; the director of the multidisciplinary youth center, regional Legislative Assembly deputy Oleg Kuroedov; and the PenzaNews photo reporter Maxim Kostyushin were included in the list of winners of the contest “Polling Station Selfie.”

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Oleg Kukharev, Oleg Kuroedov and three more contestants received prizes in the category “Mass Selfie” for photos before the polling station No. 113 that was located in the Penza State Agricultural Academy: they will receive one-year fitness club subscription cards.

The winners of the “Family Selfie” category are five people, including the PenzaNews photo reporter Maxim Kostyushkin, who received a cinema gift card in an official award ceremony in the “Sovremennik” film theater in the evening of Tuesday, September 15.

The winner of the head category, “Best Selfie,” was Kirill Kuryan, who received an iPhone 6.

The two runners-up received a Sony PlayStation 4 and an iPad mini 3 respectively.

In a comment to PenzaNews agency, Kirill Kuryan said he enjoys such contests.

“I learned about the contest through VK.com social network. I just wanted to take part in it at first, and then I got into it,” the speaker said.

According to Kirill Kuryan, he specifically refused to promote his contest entry among his friends.

“I was stunned by the professional level of the contest organizers. They published the preliminary results at a certain moment, and I was way too far away from the top. I was disappointed, and went to sleep. Come the morning, I learned each vote was screened and only the votes from the Penza citizens were counted,” the winner said, praising the anti-cheating methods.

The contest “Polling Station Selfie” had been announced in the Penza region shortly before September 13, the unified voting day.

The contest pitted together smartphone-made photos from the voting day published in Instagram from 8.00 am to 22.00 pm. To participate in each of the three categories, “Best Selfie,” “Mass Selfie” or “Family Selfie,” each photo was required to have been published with a specific hashtag.

The winning photo in each category was calculated through the number of “likes” each entry had received.

The contest was organized by the initiative group “Razvitiye” and financed by sponsors and partners.