Children and young people shape the future

The Chemnitz Environmental Prize is awarded annually by the City of Chemnitz with the support of its partners eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co. KG, Südsachsen Wasser GmbH and the waste disposal and municipal 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 and successful environmental education, particularly in the area of day-care centres. The award recognises projects that require intensive engagement with environmental protection and active action and are designed to be sustainable.

The award winners for the entries submitted in 2017 were selected by a jury. The jury members were: Dr Heidi Becherer (member of Chemnitz City Council), Carmen Schreiter (representative of eins energie in sachsen GmbH & Co. KG), Kerstin Link (representative of Südsachsen Wasser GmbH), Ingrid Kasiske (Chemnitz Environmental Centre), Ines Hanko (Office for Family and Social Affairs) and Dr Thomas Scharbrodt (Head of the City of Chemnitz Environmental Office).
The following award winners were honoured by representatives of the City of Chemnitz and the participating companies at a festive event held today, Wednesday 14 June, at the Chemnitz Municipal Music School:

In the daycare centre age category, the children of the Kindergarten der Sinne from SFZ Förderzentrum gGmbH received 1st prize, 300 euros, certificates and gifts for their project "Die Müllforscher" (The Waste Explorers). The young environmentalists learnt how to use resources sustainably with the topics of waste avoidance, waste separation, composting and waste recycling.

Second prize was awarded to the "Rüsselchen" municipal day care centre with prize money of 200 euros as well as certificates and gifts for their project "Washing day for our water - with Aqualino". Understanding water as the basis of life and using it responsibly was supported with many experiments, observations and a tour of the Einsiedel waterworks.

The decision for the 3rd prize was very difficult for the jury. They decided to award two 3rd places. The "Fuchsbande" from the day care centre "Zeisigwaldfüchse" from KJF e. V.

Chemnitz received a 3rd prize for their efforts to protect deer with their project "Kids for fawns", which are endangered by agricultural activities. The children were supported in their endeavours by the expertise of Natur-Hof Chemnitz e. V. and Jens Schreiber, head of the Chemnitz District Hunting Association. The "Chemnitzer Eisknirpse" municipal day care centre also received 3rd prize. "Experiencing, touching and living environmental awareness in our forest group" was their goal. Topics such as the protection of the soil, the function of the forest and how to deal with water were worked on.

Pupils age group:

In the Pupils age group, the Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium's environmental working group impressively demonstrated the importance of the primeval forest and what the working group has done to preserve it by looking back on over 10 years of its existence. The "Help for the primeval forest" was continuously illustrated with numerous mosaic pieces. Greenpeace awarded the grammar school the title "School for the Primeval Forest" in 2005. The working group has been supporting Ilka Sohr and Torsten Roder's work in Bolivia for eight years. The working group was honoured with the first prize, worth 300 euros, for its ongoing achievements.

Art and environmental protection - Josefine Glaubitz from Dr Wilhelm André Grammar School makes this connection with her project "Art from rubbish". With her analysis, she shows how important it is to raise public awareness of resource consumption. Her creative work illustrates what is necessary and what is possible. She was awarded 2nd prize and prize money of 200 euros.

Biodiversity and species protection are at the centre of Henri Leschzinski's work "Effects of the FSC reference area on the breeding bird population in the Crimmitschau forest". As a member of the "Ornis" working group of the Nature Conservation Association, he analysed the breeding bird population in Crimmitschau Forest and documented the ecological significance of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council®) reference areas. Henri was awarded 2nd prize and 200 euros in prize money for this achievement.

Vocational school students Tommy Dick, Toni Dorczok, Eric Funke and Marc Gebhardt from the Richard Hartmann School, Vocational School Centre for Technology III, developed ideas to efficiently recycle a wide variety of everyday waste materials as well as special waste from workshops and laboratories and to enable environmentally conscious material cycles. The students received a special prize of 150 euros for this.

Healthy air in buildings, especially in the colder months of the year, is the topic of Konstantin Langfritz from the Electronics Informatics working group at solaris FZU gGmbH Sachsen. Damp rooms and mould growth pose a risk to health. Konstantin developed an electronically supported technology that detects mould growth in good time and ensures air exchange in the room. He received a special prize and 150 euros for this.
In addition to the prize money, certificates and gifts, the children and young people were able to take part in a varied supporting programme organised by the staff of the music school.

Golden Broom award winners

This year's winners of the Chemnitz spring clean-up were also honoured at the award ceremony for the environmental prize for children and young people.

In its 10th anniversary year, almost 1,600 volunteers took part in the "For a clean Chemnitz" campaign from 25 March to 23 April 2017. In total, more than 480 bags of rubbish and additional containers full of leaves, branches etc. were collected. In total, around 9,000 kilograms were collected. The ASR launched its traditional kick-off campaign for the first time at Chemnitz Zoo to mark its 10th anniversary.

A jury selected the following winners:
Winners of the campaign:
1st prize: "Golden Broom": Geocacher Chemnitz and the surrounding area - 150 euros prize money
2nd prize: "Chemnitzer Eisknirpse" daycare centre - 100 euros prize money
3rd prize: "Entdeckerland" daycare centre - 50 euros prize money

To mark the 10th anniversary, all prize winners will also receive a special guided tour of Chemnitz Zoo. The geocachers from Chemnitz and the surrounding area have thus successfully reclaimed the "Golden Broom" challenge cup. They had already won this in 2013 and 2015.
All participants and award winners deserve recognition for their outstanding achievements in the interests of a clean environment for the future. The Environmental Agency of the City of Chemnitz would like to thank everyone for their commitment and achievements and hopes for renewed lively participation in the competition for the Chemnitz Environmental Award 2018.

Information on the 2018 Environmental Award online: www.chemnitz.de/umweltpreis