In a frame of the competition among young Russian scientists-microbiologists for the best paper published in 2019, a special prize (200 Euro) was awarded by the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) for the best research article in the field of microbial ecology.

The Competition Committee has decided to award this prize to Konstantin Chekanov (Lomonosov Moscow State University) for the series of articles on diversity and physiological adaptations of carotenogenic microalgae in the White Sea polar region, which includes the following publications:

1. Diversity of carotenogenic microalgae in the White sea polar region
2. Eukaryotic sequences in the 16S rRNA metagenomic dataset of algal-bacterial consortia of the White sea coastal zone
3. Non-photochemical quenching in the cells of the carotenogenic chlorophyte Haematococcus lacustris under favorable conditions and under stress
4. Abstract