"The Alliance's active support for new projects helps unite society in the face of information threats, bridge the digital divide between generations, and preserve our unique cultural code," Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, said in an address to the participants of the V Youth Digital Forum and the Alliance's Award for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment.

This year, applications for participation in the "For a Safe Digital Childhood" Award were submitted from all regions of the country, as well as from the Republic of Belarus.

Awards were presented to the winners in four categories. The winner in the "Digital Family Security" nomination was the project of the "Family Cyber Shield: Protection for Children" board game from the Kuvin family from Yekaterinburg. The "WITHOUT danger" web quest by Polina Cherkasova from the Nizhny Novgorod region won in the "Lessons of Online Security" nomination. Natalia Vorotova from IT-Cube Digital Education Center for Children ANCO, Izhevsk received a special prize from the Spherum, information and communication educational service. The "White Hacker" project by Alexander Kravchenko from the Moscow Region won in the "The Future of the Internet" nomination. And the "Best Project of the Expert Community" was the TV series "Bodo Borodo. IT" from Riki Group of Companies, Moscow.

The award winners received statuettes, commemorative diplomas, valuable prizes and gifts from partners and founding companies of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment.

The award ceremony took place, and the plenary session of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment, "Cybersecurity of Childhood: Challenges, Strategy, Cooperation", was held as part of the award ceremony.

The experts of the session were: Tatyana Matveeva, Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communications Infrastructure, Irina Shvartsman, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Khasin, Acting Director of the Cybersecurity Department of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Elizaveta Belyakova, Chairman of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment, Vladimir Tabak, CEO of Dialog ANCO and Dialog Regions ANCO, Dmitry Gulyaev, Youth Digital Ombudsman, Ruslan Yusufov, Founder and Managing Partner of MINDSMITH, an expert in technology trends and information security.

"Our main task is to develop a "collective digital immunity" among the younger generation. Now about a third of children believe that the Internet is a safe environment, and they fully trust information from the Network. This is an area of development for the state, parents, educational institutions, socially responsible businesses, and civil society. We need to teach children and teenagers to think critically, identify risks and respond to them correctly," Tatyana Matveeva, Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies and Communications Infrastructure, said.

Irina Shvartsman, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, continued the discussion: "As part of the regular activities, children are introduced to the basics of digital literacy and security. They learn about the signs of fraud and learn how to protect personal data using specific examples. Unfortunately, in today's world, children face threats related to artificial intelligence. It is extremely important that the child can recognize the danger in time and seek help from his/her parents or a teacher."

Elizaveta Belyakova, Chairman of the Alliance for the Protection of Children in the Digital Environment, said that technology is developing rapidly, and, unfortunately, threats in the digital environment are also becoming more complex. However, in particular innovative solutions that help protect children from unwanted content, online scams and cyber attacks.

Vladimir Tabak, General Director of Dialog ANCO and Dialog Regions ANCO, continued: "Deepfakes are a new iteration of fakes, they are generated by artificial intelligence. This technology is quite new, but it is well known. The results of a study conducted by Dialog Regions ANCO showed that 50% of Russians know about deepfakes, and 41% have met them personally. Some countries have already introduced mandatory labeling of deepfakes, and in our country more than 50% of people support the introduction of their regulation. I would like to note separately that any regulation should take into account the negative, positive side of creating content using AI, rather than following the path of a complete ban."

The plenary session discussed key challenges and solutions in the field of cybersecurity of childhood. The speakers stressed the importance of coordination between government agencies, businesses, and public organizations to protect children from cyber threats, including cyberbullying, fraud, access to unwanted content, and deepfakes. Special attention was paid to educational programs aimed at improving the digital literacy of children, parents and teachers.