Assembly of NGOs named the champions of civil community 2014

On January 13 Art Siadziba hosted the 6th “Civil Society Champions” Award Ceremony.

On January 13 Art Siadziba hosted the 6^th “Civil Society Champions” Award Ceremony.

The Assembly Of Pro-Democratic NGOs Of Belarus marked the most notable and important events and activities that have happened in the Belarusan civil sector in 2014.

In the Campaign of the Year nomination, “Show You Are a Belarusan” campaign launched by Art Siadziba was awarded.  In 2014, Art Siadziba members held a number of actions aimed at promotion of Belarusan symbols, including the Embroidered T-shirt Day and distribution of embroidered ribbons of the total length of 5 kilometers in the center of the city.

The award in the “New Initiative” nomination was given to the group of experts working in the frames of the initiative in protection of Kurapaty (an open air memorial of the Stalin repressions victims). In 2014, archeologists, architects, engineers, lawyers, historians and journalists united to protect Kurapaty from illegal redevelopment.

1863 Rebels Remembrance Day in Svislac was named the Regional Event of the Year. In 2014, it was the 20th anniversary of the Remembrance Day celebration.

In the Creative Input of the Year nomination, football fans who held a spontaneous solidarity action at the Belarus-Ukraine football game in October 2014 won. The guests of the Award ceremony listened to the audio of one of the fans’ speech, as he wished to stay anonymous.

The Screw Up of the Year “anti-award” went to the Citizenship and Migration Department of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Minsk City Executive Committee and Citizenship and Migration Department of the Pershamaiski Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs of Miesk for deprivation of citizenship and deportation of the human rights defender Elena Tonkacheva. Elena’s colleagues who received the award for her, suggested to cut the pumpkin (the actual prize in the nomination) in small pieces and send them to all officials who were involved in the absurd case.

Marat Haravy from the Novy Cas newspaper won in the Media/Journalist of the Year nomination and the Award jury chose www.nastaunik.info, an informational website for teachers and trainers, as the Best NGO website of the Year.

Language teachers from the popular Belarusan language courses “Mova Nanova”, “Mova ci Kava”, Movavieda” and “Mova TUT” were announced Civil Leaders of the Year. The prizes were received by the courses curators Alena Andrejeva, Alaksiej Sein, Valiaryna Kustava, Hlieb Labadzienka and Alesia Litvinouskaja.