Awards for committed and creative projects - Environmental Prize for Children and Young People 2016 presented

Today, the 2016 Environmental Award for children and young people in various age groups was presented at a ceremony on the steps of the Küchwaldwiese. The Chemnitz Environmental Prize is awarded annually by the City of Chemnitz and with the support of its partners eins energie, Südsachsen Wasser GmbH, Chemnitzer Verkehrs AG and the waste disposal and city cleaning company of the City of Chemnitz to honour the best ideas and projects by children and young people for active and sustainable environmental protection. The award recognises projects that require a particularly intensive examination of the environment and active action and are designed to be sustainable.

In the age category for day-care centres, the children from the "Groß & Klein" ecological day-care centre were awarded 1st prize, 300 euros, certificates and gifts for their "long-term project". The children learn about biodiversity and the interactions between organisms and their natural environment using practical examples.
The project "Not only our house - we also want to protect our environment" by the children of the "Rüsselchen" day care centre was awarded 2nd prize, 200 euros, certificates and gifts. In their passive house, which was handed over in 2011, the children deal with sustainability in everyday life.

In the primary school age group, the jury awarded the project "Our forest project", submitted by class 2a of the Glösa after-school care centre, 1st prize, worth 300 euros. The children researched the diversity of the forest and wrote down their findings in the project with great commitment.
Ashley Daher was awarded 2nd prize and 200 euros for her project "Clean forest and green spaces in Chemnitz". Ashley spent her free time working with her grandad to keep the environment clean, emphasising the recreational value of our forests.
The after-school care centre in the Chemnitz school model came in just behind in 3rd place, with a prize of 150 euros, for its "Long-term project". The participants learned a great deal about trees and their importance in the ecosystem and developed their environmentally conscious behaviour in the process.

In the age group of school classes 5 to 8, the secondary school "Am Flughafen" was honoured with the
1st prize. The working group, led by the Solaris Förderzentrum für Jugend und Umwelt gGmbH, dealt with radiation exposure and other effects of using mobile phones. They received 300 euros, certificates and gifts for their work.

Falco Eigner from Nabu, Regionalverband Erzgebirge e. V. received the first prize of 300 euros in the age group 9 to 20 years for his project "Sprunghaft". Falco has been interested in "life in the meadow" for years. In recent years, he has regularly won prizes for his investigations, which require a great deal of patience.
Another 1st prize, worth 300 euros, was awarded to Richard Els from Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium for his project "Research and development of a solar car". His solar car had already won 4th place in the national solar model vehicle competition in 2014 and 1st place in the solaris Cup Chemnitz 2015.
The 3rd prize was awarded to Hanna Lehnert. She submitted her project "Evaluation of statistical climate and projection data for the Chemnitz site in the period from 1961 to 2100 with special consideration of wind conditions and derivation of local potential for the generation of renewable energy using small wind turbines". Climate protection is currently one of the greatest tasks in protecting our environment. Hanna is tackling this task with a long-term climate perspective.

The entries submitted in 2016 were assessed by a jury, which included Meike Roden (member of Chemnitz City Council), Carmen Schreiter (representative of eins energie in sachsen GmbH), Kerstin Link (representative of Südsachsen Wasser GmbH), Ingrid Kasiske (Chemnitz Environmental Centre), Bettina Singer (Office for Family and Social Affairs) and Dr Thomas Scharbrodt (Head of the City of Chemnitz Environmental Office).

In addition to the prize money, certificates and gifts, the children and young people were able to take part in a varied supporting programme, which was supported by the facilities around the Küchwaldwiese, the KJF school hostel, the cosmonaut centre, the park railway and the Küchwaldbühne stage.

All participants and award winners deserve recognition for their outstanding achievements in the interests of our environment. At the same time, the Environmental Agency is once again calling for entries for the Chemnitz Environmental Award 2017.

Information on the 2017 Environmental Award can be found here.