VIENNA, 14th December 2023 - During the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) 26th Ordinary Meeting in Vienna, Austria, the ICPDR proudly announced the winners of this year's Danube Art Master competition. An award ceremony was held to honour the international winners in each competition category. The announcement was made by Susanne Brandstetter, Chairperson of the ICPDR's Public Participation Expert Group.
The Danube Art Master competition is a unique platform where children and teenagers from the Danube River Basin are encouraged each year to reflect on the health of their local rivers and to contemplate how they can contribute to preserving these vital waters for the future. Participants are encouraged to use materials sourced, inspired, or directly taken from the environment to create their artworks, emphasizing the importance of their local surroundings as a primary source of inspiration.
This year's competition saw an overwhelming response, with over 1,300 children from 133 schools across the Danube River Basin participating. They collectively created 300 artworks, celebrating the beauty and significance of the Danube River. The winners were selected by a jury comprising members of the ICPDR's Public Participation Expert Group.
The award ceremony, held on December 13th during the ICPDR’s 26th Ordinary Meeting in Vienna, was a testament to the young talents' dedication to environmental stewardship. While awarding the prizes, Susanne Brandstetter remarked, "The younger generation is not only the future but also the present Keepers of our Danube. Their fresh perspective and creativity in approaching this vital resource, water, is a learning opportunity for us all, year after year."
The 2023 Danube Art Master Competition winners in each category are as follows:
Art
Junior category: "We love the Danube river and its inhabitants” by artwork group Association "Danube Shine", Ruse, Bulgaria.
Teen category: “Otter” by Laura Gajarská and Lea Hybbenová, Primary School of Matej Bel, Šamorin, Slovakia.
Video
Junior category: "Responsible to the Danube" by Nikola Lišanin, Prva obrenovačka osnovna škola Obrenovac, Serbia
Teen category: "Blue Danube - Our Aim" by Maksim Ilić, Sara Škrijelj, Feđa Milojević and Matija Stojanović, OŠ “Rada Miljković” Jagodina, Serbia
Photography
Junior category: “Sunset at the hay loader” by Luca Hegedűs, Private submission, Hungary.
Teen category: “Korita Soce” by Allina Bek, Celje Center High School, Slovenia
Danube Art Master Online
The “most liked” category was an online competition – an 'audience prize' – where the audience could cast their votes by liking the artworks online. The title of “Most liked artwork“ was ultimately awarded to:
Most liked Artwork: “River” by 29 children, PU Čukarica, Čukarica, Serbia
Most liked Video: "Blue Danube - Our Aim" by Maksim Ilić, Sara Škrijelj, Feđa Milojević and Matija Stojanović, OŠ “Rada Miljković” Jagodina, Serbia
Congratulations again to all the winners!
Danube Art Master is jointly organized by the ICPDR and the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE), an ICPDR observer organisation and one of the largest networks focusing on water in the world.
This article was originally published on icpdr.org