Hungary Wins Danube Art Master

Vienna, 9 November 2007 – Four Hungarian children have won the ‘International Danube Art Master 2007’ competition, announced Philip Welller, Executive Secretary of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) today. Mr. Weller made the announcement at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics together with Gyula Hollo, Head of the Hungarian Delegation to the ICPDR.

The winning submission was created by Vanda Csege, Nikolett Rozsnavszki, Kitti Ottlakan, and Virginia Dendök from the Móra Ferenc Primary School of Mályi, Hungary. Their artistic sculpture depicted the Danube Fairy hoisting an anchor to collect people’s waste in the river. The entry convinced the judges due to its beauty, creativity and clear message not to litter our rivers. The fragile sculpture, which is made of wood, grass and flowers, was inspired by the old Hungarian folk song “The wind is blowing from the Danube”.

The International Master is selected from the winners of the national ‘Danube Art Master’ competitions in 14 Danube Basin countries including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. All children and schools from these 14 countries were invited to apply. Some 3,000 applications were submitted.

Honour Awards are also handed over by Coca-Cola Hungary and Global Water Partnership Hungary.

The “International Danube Art Master 2007” competition was announced on Danube Day on 29 June, 2007. The competition was linked to the event’s central theme – “The Danube – Celebrating Cultures” – to illustrate the cultural richness of the Danube river basin and how rivers and culture connect people.

Children were encouraged to visit local rivers and surrounding areas and to think about their importance in cultural terms. They were then asked to reflect their thoughts and inspirations through environmental art using materials from in and around the river.

Other examples of prize-winning submissions at the national level included Bulgaria’s ‘Fishermen´ made from straw, and Czechs `Bridal tingle´ of mud and leaves on a river shore.

The competition was jointly organized by the ICPDR and the Danube Environmental Forum (DEF), the largest network of environmental NGOs in the Danube Basin.

“We believe that this competition encourages children to learn more about the Danube and help protect it,” said ICPDR Executive Secretary Philip Weller. “It is also an artistic reminder for adults and the representatives of Danube national governments of their joint responsibility to ensure that the Danube is protected for future generations.”

The award ceremony in Budapest was attended by the Danube Art Master winners, Gyula Hollo, Head of the Hungarian Delegation to the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and representatives from the Danube country embassies represented in Budapest. After the ceremony, the winners joined a three-day environmental programme, supported by Coca-Cola and organized by the Global Water Partnership Hungary and the Hungarian Ministry of Environment and Water, which includes trips to the Budapest Zoo, the Esztergom Danube Museum, to the Museum of Natural History and a boat visit to the town of Szentendre.