Presentation of the Children and Youth Environmental Award

On the occasion of the 6th Children & Youth Environmental Award, Mayor Christian Gerlitz and André Sack, authorized signatory of Stadtwerke Energie Jena-Pößneck, presented awards to this year's winners on Saturday as part of "Your Day in Paradise". Under the motto "Water is valuable", kindergartens and school classes have dealt intensively with the topic of water and carried out various exciting projects.

"Water is the basic prerequisite for all life on earth. However, we usually only realize how valuable it is when it becomes scarce. The droughts of recent years in particular have shown us the serious consequences that water scarcity can have for people and nature. I am therefore very pleased that the children and young people have dealt with this important topic this year and have implemented many great projects," said Christian Gerlitz, Mayor and Head of the Department for Urban Development and the Environment.

André Sack from Stadtwerke Energie: "Environmental and climate protection have been a declared corporate goal of Stadtwerke Jena since it was founded; our special-purpose association JenaWasser has stood up for drinking water as the 'number one foodstuff' of the highest quality for 30 years. We are therefore particularly pleased when these key issues are addressed by children in nurseries or schools - because this is where the environmentalists of tomorrow are to be found. As a municipal utility, we will be happy to continue supporting this award in the future."

In their numerous projects, the children and young people have created waterholes for birds and insects, visited waterworks, built filter systems, collected garbage, recorded radio broadcasts and provided information about water-saving measures.

The prize winners

This year's main prize winners are the Janusz Korczac kindergarten, which dealt with the topics of plastic waste in the sea, overfishing and wastewater, and the Sternschnuppe kindergarten, which held an online meeting with children from Nicaragua on the topic of water in addition to visits to a sewage treatment plant and a trout hatchery. The two main prizes, each worth €800, were provided by the city of Jena and Stadtwerke Energie Jena Pößneck.

Other prize winners are class 6b of the Christliches Gymnasium, class 4b of the Lobdeburgschule and the kindergartens Jona & Joni, Bummi, Zum Leutratal and PI mal Daumen. They received non-cash and special prizes in the form of gripping tongs and cash prizes ranging from €100 to €400.

In total, the Children & Youth Environmental Award comprises a total sum of €2,500. It has been awarded by the city of Jena since 1998 for special commitment in the field of environmental protection and nature conservation.