Environmental Award 2022 is presented
Invitation to the press event: 5 July, 9.15 a.m., Altchemnitz special school
On Tuesday, 5 July at 9.15 a.m., the winners of the Chemnitz Environmental Award for Children and Young People in the category of grades 5 to 8 will receive their awards. Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend. The award ceremony will take place at the Altchemnitz special school, Philippstraße 20, 09130 Chemnitz.
A total of 22 projects from 667 children and young people were submitted for this year's environmental award. A particularly large number of primary schools took part. In addition, projects in the kindergarten, grades 5 to 8 and grades 9 to 12 and up to 20 years of age were submitted. Due to the large number of applications, awarding the prizes was a challenge for the seven-member jury. The following criteria were taken into account: intensive personal involvement with the chosen topic, active action to improve the environmental situation, sustainability of the ideas and presentation of the project.
First place receives 300 euros in prize money, second place 200 euros and third place 150 euros. All participants will also receive certificates. Representatives of the City of Chemnitz Environmental Agency and the jury will present the awards in person at the respective facilities in the coming days.
The categories and their winners in detail:
Kindergarten age group:
This year, the projects submitted in the nursery age category focused primarily on experiencing nature. This lays an important foundation for later environmental and nature awareness. Only by familiarising children with their immediate surroundings and nature can they gain an understanding of the environment and help to protect it properly.
Particularly noteworthy here is the Chemnitz kindergarten model, which won first prize with its project "Preserving old vegetable varieties". The Rabennest daycare centre came second with its project "Rabenstein and our native animals", closely followed by the Kita an der Sparkasse with its environment and nature diary.
Primary school age group:
Most projects were submitted in the primary school age group this year. The topics of the projects were very diverse, but nature conservation issues and the topic of waste pollution always took centre stage.
Harthau primary school entered two different projects, of which "Climate protection, what can we do as pupils?" was awarded first prize. The Fritz-Reuter-Straße day care centre was awarded second prize for its intercultural hands-on garden. It is worth mentioning that the hands-on garden is also open to local citizens. Third place went to Charles Darwin Primary School, which addressed the important topic of resource conservation in addition to waste pollution and recycling.
Age group 5th to 8th grade:
A special feature this year was the participation of the Altchemnitz special school, which took first prize, and the second-placed Waldorf School Chemnitz. At both schools, many pupils were involved across all year groups. The high number of participants is an indicator that many children have engaged with the submitted nature and environmental topics. This supports the impact of the environmental award. Third place went to the two pupils Konstantin Meisch and Maxim Hennig, two young researchers from the science and chemistry youth work programme at solaris Förderzentrum für Jugend und Umwelt gGmbH Sachsen. The submitted project "The sustainable flower pot" impressed the jury, as the topic of water scarcity was scientifically addressed by means of an experiment and a very interesting inventive solution was presented.
Age group 9th to 12th grade or up to 20 years:
In the 9th to 12th grade age group, Celina Stark from Georgius-Agricola-Gymnasium submitted a scientific paper on the topic of "The independence of the honey bee - potentials of nature-appropriate beekeeping". Her work emphasised the importance of the honey bee as a pollinator and thus as a guarantor of biodiversity and highlighted the importance of natural and self-regulating beekeeping.