SozialMarie

We a re looking for tried and tested, implemented, effective social innovations in all sectors in Central and Eastern Europe.

News

02/26/2026

Response of the European Commission to the “My Voice, My Choice” Initiative

On 26 February 2026, the European Commission presented its formal response to the European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice, My Choice: For Safe and Accessible Abortion,” which was supported by more than 1.2 million citizens across 19 Member States.

02/26/2026

SozialMarie 2026 - Our Nominees!

We are delighted to present the 32 nominated projects for the SozialMarie 2026. They stand for innovative ideas, strong commitment, and forward-looking perspectives.

01/14/2026

The call for applications is closed

The submission phase for SozialMarie ended on January 13, 2026. 366 projects from 6 countries reached us! Now the projects will be reviewed by our international evaluators.

12/18/2025

The SocialMarie Award–winning project of 2025 makes history in the European Parliament

The citizens’ initiative My Voice, My Choice collected over 1.12 million signatures across Europe, which led to a vote in the European Parliament on 17 December 2025. My Voice, My Choice from Slovenia won second prize at the SocialMarie Awards in 2025.

Price

SozialMarie is a prize for social innovation that is awarded every year to outstanding projects. It honours initiatives that offer novel, sustainable and exemplary solutions to current social challenges. You can find out more about what we mean by social innovation and how the prize is awarded here.

Projects

Every year since 2005, socially innovative projects from various sectors have been honoured with the SozialMarie. Would you like to find out more about the projects, see who has been nominated and who is one of the lucky winners? Click here for the projects.

Insights

Did you know that we have a podcast? Would you like to click through pictures from past events or find out what else we do apart from the SozialMarie application and award ceremony? Take a look at our Insights.

Patrons

What do a workshop, a social media post, bread dough and a charity event have in common? The patron of honour for a nominated project. You can find more information about our inspiring patrons here.