Civic Initiatives Presented 2012 MLADGRAD Awards

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The Civic Initiatives association presented, on August 10, 2012, this year’s MLADGRAD (Young City) awards to local self-governments, organizations, groups and individuals who worked to improve the status of youth in their local communities and responded to young people’s needs for volunteering and internship opportunities, travel, information and space for their activities.

The winners of this year's MLADGRAD awards (Photo Civic Initiatives)

The awards were presented in three categories. In the 3rd category of associations, informal groups and initiatives that worked to improve the cooperation between the youth and local self-governments, special recognition awards were given to informal groups Planet of Innovators (Planeta inovativaca) from Smederevo, and „Engage and Change“ (Pokreni se promeni se) from Raška, while the special award for personal contribution went to Filip Vukša, independent activist and student from Belgrade.

The main award in that category went to the BUM Youth Association from Bečej, which has organized, since 2012, many volunteering actions which were joined by thousands of young people from Bečej.

In the category of local self-governments that allocated publicly owned facilities and offices to the youth in their local communities, special mention was made of the City of Loznica and the Municipality of Krupanj, while the main award went to the Municipality of Preševo.

Finally, in the category of local self-governments that made general contribution to the improved status of youth in the local communities, the Municipality of Kikinda and Municipality of Blace received special recognition for their contributions.

The main award MLADGRAD 2012 went to the Municipality of Ivanjica, for overall contribution to imrpove the status of youth. The Municipal Youth Office offers the local youth a number of programmes, such as the Local Youth Parliament, several youth services, youth radio, TV and press editorial offices. With the support of the municipal administration, the Office also established the Youth Club in Ivanjica.

„The presentation of the MLADGRAD awards, which mark August 12, International Day of the Youth, recognizes the local self-governments, organisations and informal groups that made major contributions to the improved status of youth in their local communities. The Ministry of Youth and Sports believes that the young people are the biggest resource and actively assists the local self-governments in the work to improve the status of youth, promote and realize its potentials. With the Law on Youth, adopted in July 2012, Serbia sent another message that it recognizes the young people as its priority“, said Snežana Klašnja, assistant Minister of Youth and Sport, who presented the awards to the winners.

Before the awards ceremony, the winners of this year’s awards, together with the past winners, took part in the “You are either a YOUTHCITY or not”, which resulted in a number of recommendations how to improve the status of young population. The 10-minute film “We can do better than this”, composed from amateur video films on the subject of status of youth in local communities, was held at the awards ceremony.

The MLADGRAD awards are given to mark August 12, International Youth Day, with the aim to promote success stories to motivate and encourage as many municipalities, organisations and individuals to continue their efforts to make the life of the youth in their communities better. (Source: Civic Initiatives)