"Katyusha", the mascot of the festival, was conceived by Soviet artist Vyacheslav Yermakov, photographer Yuri Alekseevich Zharov and artist Ekaterina Afanasyevna Dunaeva, who was also depicted on the official poster of the festival for the Central Committee of the CPSU youth publication "Plakat". "Katyusha" was sketched by Mikhail Veremenko, an artist from Moscow.[14][15]