Children and Youth Environmental Prize 2022 awarded

"Who has seen the brown bear?"

Insects rarely get the attention they deserve. Yet they are of great importance to humans and indispensable for our food and agriculture.
Now the children and young people of Jena have dedicated themselves to the little creepy-crawlies and carried out many wonderful projects to protect insects as part of the 5th Children & Young People's Environmental Award.
Five kindergartens and five schools competed for the prize and showed how they dealt with the topic of insects. Habitats for insects were created on the school or nursery grounds, nesting aids were built and the development of insects was observed and researched.

The winners

One of the main prizes goes to the Leonardo Free All-Day School, last year's winner. The pupils from the Berlin, Italy and Spain home groups (grades 4-6) spent four weeks working intensively to protect insects, creating a pile of dead wood and designing numerous posters, fact sheets and flyers, which they distributed in the city center.

The second main prize goes to the Sternschnuppe daycare center for its intensive involvement with and commitment to the brown bear and other insects. This was an impressive demonstration of the importance the daycare center attaches to teaching about ecological relationships and appreciating insects. An appeal to search for the brown bear was successful: a caterpillar was found!
For so much commitment, the winners each received prize money of 800 euros.

Claudia Budich, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck GmbH, explains: "I am delighted that we have received so many great projects again this year. It gives me hope to see how much creativity and commitment daycare children and schoolchildren are already showing in protecting insects. The projects submitted are an inspiration to us all, as they show how each and every one of us can make a contribution to preserving biodiversity."

"Insect populations have been declining for a long time, even though insects are invaluable for the functioning of our ecosystems. I would therefore particularly like to congratulate the two winners of the main prizes - the Sternschnuppe daycare center and the Leonardo free all-day school - who have shown a particularly high level of commitment. I would also like to thank all the other participants for their projects, which have made a very important contribution to environmental education," said Christian Gerlitz, Mayor and Head of the Department for Urban Development and the Environment.

As in previous years, the prize money totaling €2,500 was donated to Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck and the city of Jena.

The environmental award was presented at the Sternschnuppe daycare center by department head Benjamin Koppe and the managing director of Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck Claudia Budich. The other prize winners will be visited and presented with their prizes in the next few days.

Overview of all prizes

Main prizes (2x) - 800 euros each

• Sternschnuppedaycare center - "The daycare center is humming and buzzing "
• Free all-day school LEONARDO, grades 4 - 6, home groups Berlin, Italy and Spain - "Hedges, meadows, forests"

2nd prizes (3x) - 300 euros each

• Am Lauensteinweg daycare center - "Insect-friendly"
• Kinderbude daycare center - "Insect diversity - what can we do for it?"
• Nordschule (Greenteam) - "Insect protection at the Nordschule"

Special prizes (2x) - 150 euros each

• Kita Weltentdecker, groups 5 and 6 - "The daycare center is blooming and humming"
• Zum Leutratal daycare center - "Live naturally - experience nature"

Prizes in kind

• Wenigenjena Community School
• Schule am Rautal - class 4b
• Christian grammar school - Year 8