Celebration of 50 winners of the 8th International Pushkin Contest among teachers of Russian language and literature from CIS countries was held in the Russian capital city as part of Day of Moscow festivities. The works by Turkmenistan teachers Elmira Abdurahimova from Ashgabat's N 13 secondary school and Aygozel Ovelekova from Mary's N 2 secondary school were among the best essays, the Turkmen State News Agency (TDH) said.

Turkmenistan was represented by a team of 25 contestants. The 8th Pushkin contest coincided with the Year of Intercultural Dialogue. It gathered 369 teachers from CIS and Baltic countries as well as Bulgaria, Germany and Israel.

The Puskin contest was held under the motto "My language is your friend". It is organized annually by the Russian Newspaper and the Moscow government with the support of the Russian Foreign Ministry starting from 2000.