DUSHANBE, May 12, Asia-Plus -- A ceremony of handing prizes to journalists participating in the republican healthy lifestyle contest was held in the Republican Center for Formation of Healthy Lifestyle in Dushanbe on May 12. 

The Center head Azizullo Sharipov has told Asia-Plus that correspondents from the newspapers “Charkhi Gardun”, “Dardu Darmon”, “Oila”, “Avicenna”, “Digest-Press”, “Minbari Khalq”, “Novy Khatlon” and others took part in the contest.  

The independent Dushanbe weekly “Charkhi Gardun” was recognized winner of the “Best Editorial Staff” nomination, and correspondent from the weekly “Avicenna” Rustam Tursunov won the nomination “Best Journalist”.  Correspondent from the independent Qurghon Teppa weekly “Bomdod” Isroil Qurbonov took first place in the “Best Article nomination.”

The contest was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Health under financial support of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF) within the framework of the USAID-funded Drug Demand Reduction Program.

According to Sharipov, they had received 22 applications from various newspapers and 130 articles for participation in the contest.    

  The contest was held for the purpose of intensifying propagation of the healthy lifestyle through media for raising health protection awareness among the population.