The SozialMarie 2023 has been awarded

At our wonderful SozialMarie award ceremony on May 1, 2023, 15 prizes were awarded to exceptional initiatives from Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. A jury of experts selected the best projects out of 288 applications, and they were awarded in front of the public during the festive SozialMarie Award Ceremony, at the Akzent Theater. Congratulations to the lucky winners!

1st prize (15.000 €): Long Ladder – Approach for Local Governments (Hungary)

2nd prize (10.000 €): Kto Vlastní Slovensko? – Who Owns Slovakia? (Slovakia)

3rd prize (5.000 €): Community Roma Doula Service (Hungary)

The first SozialMarie award this year goes to the project Long Ladder – Approach for Local Governments from Hungary. The project strengthens the ideas of a local economy based on solidarity and sustainability instead of private ownership. In Ipolytölgyes, a village near Budapest, there are few public services. To improve this situation, the mayor has started the "Long Ladder" approach by organizing community-based services for the villagers. The local municipality lends out equipment for farming, cleaning or gardening at low fees. This equipment would be too expensive or impossible to obtain for most people. Sharing equipment instead of owning it not only saves money, but is also good for the environment. This approach is easily adaptable anywhere – it can start with a few services and expand to more devices over time. Long Ladder is a good example of the positive impact of the sharing economy.

The second main prize was won by the initiative Kto Vlastní Slovensko? – Who Owns Slovakia? which focuses on promoting fair trade and ethical shopping. The #Who Owns Slovakia portal provides a powerful tool to influence the way money is spent in the tourism sector by exposing economic malpractice and corruption. It sheds light on hidden ownership and makes it easier for customers to make informed decisions.

The third grand prize went to the Community Roma Doula Service project, which supports disadvantaged women who are more vulnerable to obstetric violence due to their social and economic situation. The project aims to combat this by running a community doula service in Alsózsolca (eastern Hungary) and supporting the self-organization of Roma women. The trained community doulas offer free support to disadvantaged pregnant girls and women who wish to be accompanied before and during childbirth.

Another 12 projects each received a €2,000 prize:

• Medici na Ulici
• Trauma-conscious Gynaecological Service for Homeless Women
• Career Path as Opposed to an Inescapable Life Path
• Come Along – Against Exclusion and Shaming

These four projects combat fundamental and persistent challenges: Poverty and equal treatment of discriminated groups. In innovative ways, they provide direct assistance to the homeless, or enable a sustainable exit from poverty.

• Life Goals – Social Learning Through Sports
• LeLi – Love for Life
• SEX, baff!
• Mobile App Preventivka

These initiatives respond to (mental) health issues. They offer creative and effective answers: specifically adapted care, special attention to youth, education of the whole society and better access to information.

• Growing Together
• Social Atelier
• andererseits
• Together for Children's Rights

These projects demonstrate that crises do not have to be overcome alone. They build strong communities and thus address common concerns: Equality, protection of human rights, inclusive participation in education and culture.

Find all the winners and also the nominated projects here.

Mentoring by volunteer honorary patrons

Each year, inspiring personalities take over the active honorary protection of awarded or nominated projects of their choice in order to actively accompany and support them in the following year.

• Barbara van Melle (Austria) supports LeLi – Love for Life
• Davorka Vidović (Croatia) supports SignCoders
• Ildikó Simon (Hungary) supports Long Ladder – Approach for Local Governments
• Milan Hosta (Slovenia) supports Life Goals – Social Learning Through Sports
• Jozef Ondáš (Slovakia) supports Childhood to Children
• Petr Machálek (Czech Republic) supports Save the lunch

 

For more information on the Honorary Patrons, click here! 

Browse through the annual SozialMarie brochure and share the positive news with your network!

Congratulations to all nominated and award-winning projects, many thanks to our Honorary Patrons for their commitment, and a big thank you to the fantastic audience at Theater Akzent.

Copyright Photos: Unruhe Privatstiftung, Jonas Matyassy