The All-Russian Student Olympiad in Ethnography, held in 2023 in Ulyanovsk, is a unique event. It has no analogues among ethnographic competitions held among Russian students in the last decade. The Olympiad showed a high level of interest among Russian students and the Russian academic community in ethnographic topics. This is evidenced, firstly, by the fact that students from all federal districts of the Russian Federation were registered to participate in the correspondence stage of the Olympiad. Secondly, the students showed a fairly high level of competence in the field of ethnography, and this despite the fact that “Ethnography” itself It is taught to one extent or another exclusively in universities. An analysis of the participants’ responses showed that the greatest difficulties were caused by questions related to philological and linguistic ones. Students coped most easily with assignments devoted to the history of Russian ethnography. The author believes that it is advisable to continue such projects in the future.