Soft music fills the air while sharply-dressed guests are assembling in the hall. Backstage, makeup artists are hard at work as the director is giving final instructions to the cameramen. To the uninitiated, it may seem like the Oscars, but these are not Hollywood stars that are being celebrated. Instead, the ITMO.Love awards are dedicated to honoring the best of ITMO’s staff. Their ideas and projects make this university a better place, and their advice is what keeps us going when the going gets tough.

“ITMO.Love is the most prestigious award for the employees of ITMO University. It is given to both individuals and teams who changed ITMO for the better through their ideas, projects, feats of professionalism, and personal qualities,” explains Olga Maskalik, the head of the Recruiting and Internal Communications Center and a member of ITMO.Love’s team. “It is important that every member of the ITMO.Family can take part in the awards by voting for whoever they feel deserves to win.”

The contest was open to all employees of the university. Applications were accepted from September 13 to October 14. Members of the staff could nominate either themselves or their colleagues, individually or as part of a team. The award had nine categories, with each representing one of ITMO’s key values, such as collaboration, transparency, as well as willingness to share one’s expertise and to support one’s colleagues. To see all of the categories, visit the ITMO.Love website (available only in Russian).

Having collected all the applications, a special commission had to determine whether the nominees fit the criteria for their respective award categories. Afterward, each student and employee was able to support their chosen nominee by participating in two rounds of voting: public (November 21-27) and secret (November 28 to December 5). After the second round, every nominee had their vote count frozen, so as to eliminate any possibility of rigging. Finally, on December 5-9 the members of the jury, which consisted of department heads, research associates, and lecturers, cast their votes.

In total, the first ITMO.Love award received 247 submissions. According to the organizers, the most popular categories were Gigabytes of Love, with 81 submissions, Wise Sensei (56 submissions), and Work Life Balance (46 submissions). After several rounds of voting, nine participants were declared winners.

Meet the winners

In the category Work Life Balance, Ekaterina Tambulatova, the dean of the Faculty of Ecotechnologies and the deputy head of the School of Biotechnology and Cryogenic Systems, received the greatest number of votes (223). She spent more than 20 years at ITMO, starting out as a student and rising to create and head a whole new department – GreenTech. In her free time, Ekaterina and her son pursue alpine skiing and off-road driving as a hobby. 

Another stellar example of work-life balance is Vadim Veiko, who not only regularly swims and roller-skates, but also does mountaineering, in spite of being 82. Professor Veiko has practiced the extreme sport for more than 60 years, conquering a 4,729 summit of the Pamir Mountains five years ago with his team, officially naming it ITMO University Peak. He became the winner in the Sports Ambassador category by a huge margin, gaining 326 votes. Despite this, the professor says that there are still more heights left for him to conquer, both scientific and physical ones.

“I enjoy connecting with nature, challenging myself, and discovering new things both in science and sports, for example, observing some phenomena with a microscope and attempting to explain them or traveling to new places. I wish I could climb the volcanoes of Indonesia or the mountains of Mexico,” says professor Veiko. “It feels great to set an example for people. This award makes me feel like a part of a big team, and lets me meet new people. For example, today I met the employees of the Student Services Office for the first time.”

Speaking of, the staff of the Student Services Office also won an award, but in another category: Hyperjump of the Year, with 243 votes. This department of ITMO serves as a guide for students when they face complex and confusing problems. Managers of the office most likely won’t help you with your math homework, but they can certainly tell you how to get a place at a dorm or apply for a stipend, while also assisting with all of the related paperwork.

The Student Services Offices shared its win with the team of ITMO Library, who received 280 votes. The renovated library recently opened its doors to new visitors, quickly becoming a favorite place for students to spend their time at. At the library, they can rent equipment, like laptops or tablets, or a room to work on their projects, hang out, or play tabletop games. 

If you are an employee and not a student, then the Staff Support Office serves as your guide at ITMO. Its team helps lecturers connect with interns, set up equipment, develop new educational programs, apply for training courses, and solve other routine tasks, like making sure all of the paperwork is in order. For their service, the Staff Support Office team was declared the winner in the Best Antistress category with 266 votes.

Fatimat Gromova and Yulia Popova, Assistants to the First Vice Rector, are convinced that collaboration is the only way forward for ITMO. They are notable for always finding the time to help their colleagues, be it with hugs or timely lunch breaks. They can help employees find the right person to solve any problem, no matter how convoluted. That is why they received 199 votes, making them the winners in the Gigabytes of Love category.

Daria Martynova, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations, received the title Wise Sensei as someone who really honors the connection with her students and believes that their support is what truly helps her grow.

“I often help students with their applications for contests and grants or take part in organizing festivals and exhibitions, such as the OTHERsiders recycled fashion festival or a series of lectures on video studies at the Alexandrinsky Theatre. For me, collaboration with students is a source of new ideas that bring me forward. This award is a great idea and a chance to learn more about your coworkers. I could barely expect that students and staff would be so actively engaged in voting or that it would culminate in such a grand event. I take my win as a sign that what I do is truly meaningful,” shared Ms. Martynova.

Our next hero is Alena Tarasova, a manager at the Student Initiatives Support Department, who together with the ITMO.GREEN student club organized waste sorting at ITMO’s dorms and campuses. Over 11,000 students and 500 members of staff supported this initiative, while 135 people voted for her in the category Eco Power, bringing her to the top.

Next comes the Collab of the Year category, with its winners making an impact that stretches beyond the university. The first of them is the team behind the Caring Robots exhibition, which was held at Sevkabel Port and welcomed 3,000 visitors. The second winning team is behind ITMO Open Science, a conference that's more like a rock concert and where science becomes a truly fun time.

Winners in their own right and category – Home of ITMO University – are the team behind ITMO’s wide-reaching admission campaign. In 2021, it was represented in Sevkabel Port and in 2022 went as far as Pulkovo Airport!

All winners received branded ITMO.LOVE statuettes, as well as certificates for various activities and official ITMO merch – all to the sound of John Paul Young’s Love Is In The Air!

“We’ve heard about many important values today as we were learning more about the projects brought to life by our winners and nominees. I believe this allowed us to involve nearly every member of ITMO Family. Moreover, this award is our chance to express our gratitude and admiration to the people who constantly do more that expected, taking ITMO to new heights,” says Olga Maskalik.