10th Chemnitz Peace Prize 2013
One first prize, two second prizes and an honourary prize will be awarded
The 10th Chemnitz Peace Prize was awarded on the occasion of the Chemnitz Peace Day 2013 in a festive event on Sunday, 3 March in the town hall by the citizens' association FUER CHEMNITZ in cooperation with the Crime Prevention Council of the City of Chemnitz and the Foreigners' Representative of the City of Chemnitz. The award was supported by the City of Chemnitz and the utility company eins energie in Sachsen.The 2013 prize winners:
The first prize honours the film project RECHTSzuHause by students at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences in cooperation with IG Metall and DGB. In the jury's statement, it says: "Excellent research forms the basis of a compact film about the Chemnitz Nazi scene and its perception among the population, the NPD in the Saxon state parliament and the effects on right-wing forces in the city of Chemnitz, racism and xenophobia on the ground. Links and causalities are identified and named. The students do not stop at critical questions, but find answers in diversity." The winner receives the sculpture "Chemnitz Peace Prize"; the first prize is endowed with 300 euros.
The jury for the awarding of the Chemnitz Peace Prize agreed by a tie vote to award two second prizes this year and did not award a third prize. The second prizes are endowed with 200 euros each. The second prize was awarded to
The Kenya-Hilfe Chemnitz association for its support of the "little-Angel-Academy School" in Shanzu / Mombasa - where full and half-orphans as well as very poor children are taken in. Through counselling, assistance, donations and membership fees, the school's independence is guaranteed, the children's quality of life is improved and the children and young people are given a perspective. A second prize was also awarded to the "Art Walk" project by Nadine Werner and Karola Schell: the project focuses on the architecture and art surrounding the Park of the Victims of Fascism in Chemnitz, taking historical aspects into account. By May 2012, a tour had been designed and made public on a wall panel in the Rembrandtstraße residential centre. Several guided tours of the park have already been organised for various groups of interested parties. A written document about this walk was produced with the help of the Reitbahnviertel neighbourhood management.
This year's honorary Chemnitz Peace Prize goes to Pedro Martin Montero Pérez, Chairman of the Chemnitz Foreigners' Advisory Council, who has made a very special contribution to encounters and understanding through his many years of voluntary work and has been and continues to be committed to the interests of migrants in a variety of ways. The jury's statement went on to say that Pedro Martin Montero Pérez is a role model for helpfulness and tolerance that transcends many types of borders - geographical and social, religious and mental.
At the festive event in the town hall, Egmont Elschner, spokesman for the jury awarding the Chemnitz Peace Prize, will report on the more than 20 applications for the Chemnitz Peace Prize 2013, the criteria for awarding the prize and the jury's decision. Once again this year, organisations, initiatives, projects, associations and individuals who stand up for tolerance, peaceful coexistence and against xenophobia were invited to apply for the Chemnitz Peace Prize. They should promote and support non-violent coexistence, understand the integration of different cultures as an essential part of our coexistence, stand up for basic values such as tolerance, democracy, peacefulness and interculturality and take a stand against marginalisation, xenophobia and racism. Important criteria for the awarding of the Chemnitz Peace Prize were creativity, continuity and sustainability.
Information on the Chemnitz Peace Prize is available online at www.chemnitz.de