Award Ceremony
For the first time in 2007, the annual “ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration” honoured 20 innovative projects from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia that are engaged in social activities. During an Award Ceremony at the National Gallery in Ljubljana on the 21st of February, presented by internationally renowned actor Miki Manojlović, 10 of the 20 finalist projects received a total prize money of EUR 85.000.
Also more than 150 leading personalities from Austria and the Balkan region came to Ljubljana to celebrate the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration 2007. Present were business people and politicians, activists from NGOs, protagonists of the cultural field as well as the media. The Award intends to support social engagement and make it visible for everybody. It conveys the message to the wider public that social activities should be recognised and honoured.
Boris Marte, Managing Director of ERSTE Foundation, is confident that the Award will create an international pool of best-practise models. “We want to motivate people to find new ways to solve social problems and to enter into a dialogue on future social development. The projects, we have seen tonight, can be inspiring for others.” The next call for the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration 2008 will start in September 2008 including additional countries in South Eastern Europe.
A. Treichl: We can make a difference in society by improving the lives of individuals
Miki Manojlović, one of Serbia’s most acclaimed actors who since his lead role in Emir Kusturica’s hit movie “Underground” has been famous far beyond South Eastern Europe, presented the Award Ceremony. To his question why so many guests came to this event, the chairman of the managing board of ERSTE Foundation, Andreas Treichl, answered: “We invited them to honour people and their initiatives who through their profound and sustainable engagement have proven that we can make a difference in society by improving the lives of individuals. The initiatives who are here tonight help people who are marginalized or even in distress to fully participate in the life of their society.” Mr. Treichl added that ERSTE Foundation wants to support the human endeavours of these organisations and stress that their work and efforts are crucial for the well-being of societies throughout Europe.
E. Busek: The winning projects are models of good practise for others
To Mr. Manojlović’s question what it means to be a winner of the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration, Erhard Busek, the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and chairman of the board of trustees of ERSTE Foundation, said: “First of all it means responsibility. The organisations and their projects winning tonight are models of good practise and will be presented to the outside world as such: they will and must set the example for others to follow.”
Photographs can be downloaded at: www.erstestiftung.org/press