The winners of the competition organized for secondary schools as part of "You are Europe" Campaign, supported by the European Union (EU) and the Government of Switzerland, are the teams of the Novi Pazar Grammar School - "Ambassadors"- and "Health Knights" from the Bujanovac Vocational School "Sveti Sava". In the finals held today in Novi Pazar on the occasion of marking Europe Day they displayed the best knowledge about topics related to the EU and the European integration process, and they awarded with funds amounting to 100,000 dinars to implement projects that will improve conditions for working and studying in their schools.
"The funds that we received will be used for purchase of two laptops and projectors to modernize the teaching process in our school, and in the course of the preparation for the competition we have learned a lot about the EU," said a member of the winning team from the Novi Pazar Grammar School, Elzana Dupljak.
The team from Bujanovac will try through their project to help their peers to adopt healthy eating habits through educational workshops in Serbian and Albanian, and provision of "healthy meals".
"It is essential that young people are informed about opportunities to study, volunteer and do internships in European countries because in such a manner doors are opened for them to acquire both new experience and knowledge that they can then use to advance their communities," said EU Delegation Head of Operations II, Steffen Hudolin, and congratulated the winners on their knowledge and good ideas. He added that the EU and Switzerland, through the development programme European PROGRES, had supported the campaign "You are Europe" precisely in order to make it possible for young people to find out right there in their towns, and in a user-friendly manner, about the opportunities that the European integration process is offering them.
In Novi Pazar, Steffen Hudolin also congratulated the winners of the competition for the best media report on European integration in South East and South West Serbia, and pointed out that the European Union had been investing for an entire decade in strengthening the media sector, because the role of the media in informing citizens is extremely important, and media freedoms contribute to the reinforcement of democratic processes, while at the same time being crucial for the empowerment of people and communities.
The number of entries for the competition, which was organized by European PROGRESS, the EU Delegation and the European Integration Office, was 67 media reports from 23 media outlets, and the prizes were awarded in eight categories, in accordance with the competition selection criteria and the decision of the selection committee.
The article by Ljiljana Stojanović of Nova Naša reč, entitled "Europe, here I come", was awarded as the best newspaper report, while the awards for the best television and radio broadcasts went to Novi Pazar, to journalists Aleksandar Nićiforović of Radio Television Novi Pazar and Nikola Kočović of Radio Sto plus, for their media coverage of activities on flood protection of the river Raška basin. The prize in the category of the best on-line report in an independent online media editions was awarded to journalist Dragan Marinković from the news agency Jugmedia, while the portal Info liga from Ivanjica was awarded for the best series of media reports. The winner in the category of best entrepreneurship reports is a journalist of Južne vesti, Nikola Marković, whose story covers self-employment of persons with disabilities, while Alma Sofić from the Sandžak TV prepared the best report on a project funded by the EU and the Swiss Government. Journalist Biljana Ljubisavljević of the Media Investigation Centre from Niš won the award in the category dedicated to potential projects, with a report that covers the need for the construction of an irrigation system in Bela Palanka.
The European Union and the Government of Switzerland, through European PROGRES, will award the media outlets who have won the competition with new audio, audio-visual or computer equipment worth up to 5,000 euros. The European Union Delegation will award the authors of the best reports with a four-day visit to Brussels, which will be carried out through the EU project "Visits to the EU institutions and member states”, while the European Integration Office will organise a two-day working visit for the winners to the relevant national state institutions involved in the European integration process in Belgrade.
On the occasion of marking Europe Day, Novi Pazar was the host of the show "Wake-up Call" anchored by the duo Gorica Nešović and Dragan Ilić, who helped to make the competition for high school students even more exciting.
During the meeting with the Mayor of Novi Pazar, Nihat Biševac, it was pointed out that the City has excellent cooperation with the EU Delegation and European PROGRES, and Steffen Hudolin also stressed the importance of regional cooperation among local self-governments included in the project for the development of Mountain Golija, because it is a long-term opportunity to kick-start economic development of the area through tourism and associated investments in infrastructure in the region.
