The Organizing Committee of SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards 2013 has announced the start of its annual polling of professionals from private banking, wealth management and related industries in order to determine the shortlist of award nominees.

From 23rd October through 11th November, the participants will be asked to identify the first, second and third places in each category. Once PwC – the Independent Consultant of the Awards – approves the results, the Organizing Committee will announce the final shortlists in each category. The winners will be determined by a Judging Panel headed by Andrei Vdovin, Editor-in-Chief of SPEAR'S Russia.

In 2013, SPEAR’S Russia Awards will be held for the fifth time in a row.

SPEAR'S Russia Wealth Management Awards is Russia’s first annual award ceremony held to celebrate the achievements of professionals and firms from private banking, wealth management and related industries. The event is organized in the best tradition of SPEAR’S Wealth Management Awards, held annually by SPEAR’S UK magazine in London.

SPEAR’S Russia is the Russian language edition of its British namesake, the most trustworthy and influential magazine for the world’s richest audience. Editor-in-Chief – Andrei Vdovin, founder – PBWM Media.

Creative and commercial management of the project is provided by MEDIACRAT.

The famous German tennis player, Boris Becker – six-time Grand Slam winner and member of the Laureus World Sports Academy – will be the special guest of honor at the gala reception Friends of Big Sports, to be hosted on 31st October in Moscow by Alexei Nemov, four-time Olympic champion and Editor-in-Chief of BOLSHOI Sport magazine.

The Vetoshny Art Center will bring together Russian and foreign athletes as well as representatives of sports, political, and business establishments. Worldwide charity movement, Laureus, of which Alexei Nemov is currently the only Russian member, will be the Official Charity Partner of the Friends of Big Sports event.

“As the initiator and main organizer of the Friends of Big Sports event, which we conduct in partnership with Laureus worldwide charity, I set a goal to boost the Russian philanthropic initiatives around sports,” says Alexei Nemov.

The BOLSHOI Sport magazine, headed by Editor-in-Chief Alexei Nemov, has been published since late 2005. According to TNS Media, the publication’s semiannual readership in Russia reaches over a million people.

Creative and commercial management of the project is provided by MEDIACRAT.

On 25th September, Hakob Paronyan Musical Comedy Theatre of Yerevan with the support of MEDIACRAT hosted the presentation of a unique collector’s edition of Revelations. ARARAT gift book – a collection of legends, stories, and experiences related to Armenia, Armenian brandy, and the culture of the country – released to mark the 125th anniversary of the legendary Armenian brandy ArArAt and the Yerevan Brandy Company.

The event was graced by some 300 guests: partners, key ArArAt customers and distributors in major markets across Eastern and Western Europe. A modern dance performance based on the stories from the book Revelations. ARARAT was produced and performed especially for the presentation by Golden Mask National Theatre Award nominees, the Kannon Dance group.

MEDIACRAT has completed a redesign of the website pestovolife.com for OPIN. “The homepage of the elite real-estate project Pestovo Life village has been created with all the latest web design trends in mind,” says Igor Borisenko, MEDIACRAT’s creative director. “The site focuses on visual interaction with its visitors – the clean design does not burden them with unnecessary complexity, and thanks to its flexible layout the web page displays correctly both on PCs and mobile devices.”

In the near future, MEDIACRAT will launch updated web sites for OPIN’s other premium projects – Pestovo and Pavlovo Quarter.

Founded in 2002, OPIN is one of the largest real estate developers in Moscow and the Moscow region.

The president of the Russian Golf Association, famous financier and entrepreneur Andrei Vdovin became the new Editor-in-Chief of SPEAR'S Russia, starting from the September issue of the publication. "Everyone wants to know about the sort of pitfalls that accomplished people encounter. Does it hurt when you fall and will anyone give you a hand as you try to climb back up? Even more interesting is whether you could avoid these pitfalls. I am very much prepared to talk about the problems successful businessmen face, as they are people who are not used to living the calm life anyway. What I do want to hear and read about, however, is their personal stories, their ways of problem-solving, any personal achievements, be it a transaction or a portfolio investment, how they deal with their creditors, how they managed to break free from the vortex of default or how they've perfected their golf swing. I think we could consider this as the short answer to the question why I am stepping in to take charge of SPEAR'S Russia and what my overall plans are. I believe that when it comes to this kind of work, two things are of the utmost importance: you must clearly identify who your readers are and share their idea of ​​the perfect publication, the idea you will then aspire to consistently and systematically. As I see it, no magazine has the right not to respect the time of its readers. As for MEDIACRAT, it is doubly so, and I say this as someone who has the patience to read through the issue cover to cover," writes Andrei Vdovin in his inaugural address as the magazine's new Editor-in-Chief.

Alexander Gafin, one of the most prominent and recognized personalities of the marketing and PR industry in Russia, has taken over the WATCH Russia project. Prior to that, he headed SPEAR'S Russia as Editor-in-Chief for five years. Commenting on his move, Gafin said that at a certain stage in life even the owners of large fortunes cease to value the money in and of itself, but see it as primarily a means to an end – a ticket to an ideal world. "A world where you have enough free time to attend every major theater premiere of the season, to go to the ends of the earth just for a beautiful sunset, and a favorite dessert that can only be prepared by one chef in the world," says Gafin. "And in such a perfect world, you begin to value time not because it is money, as Benjamin Franklin once famously declared, but because it's a moment of life, which contains the full complexity of existence. This is the world of aesthetes and hedonists, collectors and travelers, artists and poets. This is the world that WATCH features, and I am extremely pleased to be heading this particular project."

WATCH Russia is dedicated to the high art of watch and jewellery making, as well as to "the signs of the times" – cinema and theater, architecture and design – presenting a medley of the most important events and names in the world of culture over the previous month. Creative and commercial management of the project is provided by MEDIACRAT.

The SPEAR'S Russia Wealth Management Awards ceremony will be hosted by SPEAR'S Russia magazine and the PBWM.ru portal on December 5, 2013 at the Mossovet State Academic Theatre. The list of nominees – professionals in private banking, wealth management and related industries – is still being finalized. The event is traditionally held in the same vein as the SPEAR'S Wealth Management Awards, organized annually by SPEAR'S UK magazine. PwC is the Awards' Independent Consultant. The year 2013 will mark the fifth anniversary of SPEAR'S Russia Awards. Over the course of these years, industry leaders have had ample time to form their opinion of the Awards. "We sincerely believe that the SPEAR'S Russia Awards is a pioneer in this area and it has no equal when it comes to the integrity of the winners' selection process," says Oleg Zhelezko, Managing Partner of Da Vinci Capital Management. "Given the fact that SPEAR'S Russia Russia and the Awards are uniquely positioned in the PBWM market, I think that this is the only way to independently assess the professionalism of the members of this community, and objectively evaluate these achievements and results for the year", says Nikolai Karpenko, Member of the Board of Directors at Herculis Partners. PBWM.ru is Russia's first portal for clients and professionals of the private banking and wealth management industry. SPEAR'S Russia is the Russian-language edition of its British namesake, the most trustworthy and influential magazine for the world's richest audience.

Alexei Nemov, Editor-in-Chief of BOLSHOI Sport and four-time Olympic champion, will invite his friends – famous Russian and international athletes, members of the athletic, political and business establishment – to a reception on October 31 at the Vetoshny Art Center.

Worldwide charity movement, Laureus, of which Alexei Nemov is currently the only Russian member, will be the official partner of the "Friends of BOLSHOI Sport" event. It is expected that the guests of honor gracing the event will be Nemov's colleagues at the Laureus World Sports Academy – famous athletes from around the world.

"My friends will come together in Moscow on October 31 to show their continuous support for the charitable sports initiatives in Russia and the world," says Nemov.

BOLSHOI Sport magazine was launched in the Russian media market in late 2005. In the spring of 2013, Alexei Nemov became head of the publication. According to TNS Media Research, the publication's semiannual readership in Russia reaches nearly one million people.

The Russian edition of the book Le Cinq by renowned French two-star Michelin Chef Eric Briffard has been developed by MEDIACRAT in collaboration with Martell, the oldest of the great cognac houses, Promsvyazbank Private Banking and Azbuka Vkusa premium supermarket chain.

A deluxe gift edition illustrated by Richard Haughton, one of the world's top food photographers, Le Cinq book is a collection of recipes that catapulted the Parisian restaurant Le Cinq, headed by Eric Briffard, to its fame. Complementing the recipes with stories from his personal life, Chef Briffard immerses readers in an exciting gastronomic narrative. He recommends the best flavours, ingredients and dishes for every season.

On 10 June, the “Revelations. ARARAT” presentation took place at Sergei Zhenovach’s Theatre Art Studio. The event supported by MEDIACRAT was organised to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the legendary producer of the Armenian brandy ArArAt and the Yerevan Brandy Company. Over 200 guests, prominent entrepreneurs, representatives of the media and art community including Stas Namin, Ruben Vardanian and Alena Doletskaya, gathered together to celebrate this significant milestone. The event was crowned with success and came as a logical sequence to the DVIN 50 Appreciation Ceremony co-hosted by ArArAt and MEDIACRAT in summer 2012 to recognise the people who made a significant contribution to promoting the Armenian heritage and culture around the world. ArArAt’s 125th anniversary is not just another jubilee but a momentous occasion to demonstrate the heritage and traditions of the brand that has become one of Armenia’s symbols. To accentuate the event’s status and show the 125 years of ArArAt’s triumph in a patchwork of genres and forms as well as to create a truly memorable moment, MEDIACRAT joined forces with a number of young and talented artists from the TSEH group to prepare a unique collector’s book entitled “Revelations. ARARAT”. The book is dedicated not only to Armenia and the Armenian culture but also to the most intense moments that fill our lives with happiness and meaning.

The Laureus World Sports Academy, one of the most influential charitable organisations in the world, unveiled plans to expand its activities in Russia. The event where the Academy is expected to announce its plans is scheduled to take place in Moscow this autumn and will be co-hosted by BOLSHOI Sport magazine, whose Editor-in-Chief and four-time Olympic champion Alexei Nemov is the only Laureus Academy member in Russia. In the early 2013, the Laureus Academy granted BOLSHOI Sport the exclusive status of the Official Media Partner in Russia.

The event will be primarily attended by world renowned athletes and members of the Laureus World Sports Academy (including Boris Becker, Vitaly Klitschko, Franz Beckenbauer, Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and others) as well as representatives of Russia’s political, business and sports elites.

BOLSHOI Sport magazine made its first appearance on the Russian media market in late 2005. According to TNS Gallup Media research, the semiannual audience of the publication in Russia reaches 1 million readers.