Marte Nilssen Alexandersen and Liv-Anna Ringheim from Longyearbyen school earned third prize in the Holberg Prize School Project competition 2021 with the project “Svalbard, at the intersection between East and West”, where they conducted a study of how Svalbard residents experience the relationship between the largest national groups present in Svalbard.
The Jury’s statement:
The research report studies Norwegian-Russian relations on macro- and micro levels by comparing the relations between Norway and Russia, and the relationship between the local communities Longyearbyen and Barentsburg on Svalbard. The pupils found that there are big differences between these different levels, and show how the larger political dimension is subordinate when people with different backgrounds live together.
The study makes use of a broad range of methods, and it is very valuable that different research methods have been employed in the project. The pupils have succeded in obtaining informants across language barriers, and in highlighting the informants’ voices in the report. Within the field of polar history research, the project offers a refreshing approach, and provides valuable perspectives on other societies where different groups meet, for example in Kirkenes, where there are also close encounters between Norwegian and Russian culture.
The pupils display a drive and a joy in their work on the research project, and the report is well written and engaging. The jury congratulates the pupils with a well-executed project and with third prize in the Holberg Prize School Project competition 2021.
The School Programme
The Holberg School Programme is an annual research competition for students in Norwegian upper secondary schools i the humanities, social sciences law and theology. Each year, around 1,000 students from 20 selected schools participate in the competition.
The Holberg School Programme Jury selects three research projects that are awarded prizes of NOK 30,000, NOK 20,000 and NOK 10,000 respectively.
The finalists are announced in mid May, and the award ceremony is held during the Holberg Week in early June each year.