Elfik Zohrabyan awarded “a Title of Laureate” of the International Competition “Eurasian Fairy Tale 2026”

Within the span of three months, Elfik Zohrabyan, Associate Professor at Vanadzor State University, has won two international awards. At the Nicosia International Playwriting Festival, his play was shortlisted from among 180 submissions and ultimately declared a winner. Zohrabyan has now been named a laureate once again, this time at the inaugural “Eurasian Fairy Tale 2026” festival, organised by the London-based Eurasian Creative Guild, in the “Best Author” category for fairy tales written in English.

Valeria Strekalovska, a Ukrainian fairy-tale writer, expert and literary mentor, outlined her views on the laureate: “Elfik Zohrabyan has a unique style and a distinctive originality.” Yelena Makarova, a well-known children’s author from Uzbekistan, singled out his book February 30 and highlighted the philosophical depth of the tale “Seven Days, Seventy Years”: “One may live a meaningful life in seven days, or one may live for seventy years. Each person makes that choice for themselves.”

In his acceptance speech, Zohrabyan spoke about the tradition of the Armenian folk tale and quoted Hovhannes Tumanyan. He thanked the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia for making his participation in Almaty possible, and closed with a quatrain in Kazakh by the classical poet Abai Kunanbayev.

After the award ceremony, the international laureates were invited to Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the largest university in Eurasia, to meet students of the Faculty of Journalism. There, the Armenian author spoke about the literary and cultural life of Armenia and offered the future journalists, many of whom will one day work on screen, practical advice on voice training and delivery.

Zohrabyan also serves as Acting Director of the Vanadzor Branch of the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. On his initiative, an official visit was paid to the T. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, where he met with the deans and the head of the international relations department. The two sides discussed prospects for cooperation that would benefit their students.