50 years of ‘jugend creativ’ – 50 years of commitment to creative brilliance: International gala event and awards ceremony live streamed from Berlin

Berlin - August 31, APA OTS - The international youth competition ‘jugend creativ’, an initiative of cooperative banks from seven European countries, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. With more than 90 million participants to date, it is not only the world’s biggest creativity competition for young people but also the longest-running private-sector commitment to promoting creativity among children, teenagers, and young adults.

On September 9, 2020, this anniversary will be celebrated at an international gala event and award ceremony – ‘50 years of jugend creativ’. The event will take place online and be streamed live from the TIPI AM KANZLERAMT theater in Berlin from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. (CEST). Bank presidents from the countries involved in the ‘jugend creativ’ competition will be joined by distinguished guests from the worlds of politics and the arts. Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the parliament for the German-speaking community in Belgium, and actor Iris Berben, patron of the anniversary event, will send messages of congratulation for 50 years of ‘jugend creativ’ while an award-winner from the very first competition in 1970 will join the event via a live video link. A further highlight will be the announcement of the international award winners in the picture category of this year’s event, whose theme is ‘Happiness is...’. The show will be hosted by TV presenter Willi Weitzel and Marija Kolak, President of the National Association of German Cooperative Banks (BVR).

Register now for the live stream!

Anyone wishing to take part in this international gala event can register at www.bvr.de/jc50 . Details of how to access the live stream will be sent to all registered participants a few days before the event. The full schedule will be published at www.bvr.de on September 7, 2020.

The idea of creating an international creativity competition for children and young people first emerged in 1968 during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. Just two years later, it was launched in several countries under the name of ‘jugend creativ’. Over the years, the competition has changed lives, inspired generations, and played a key role in schools. In 1993, ‘jugend creativ’ made it into the Guinness Book of Records and in 2009 it was named as an official project of the UN’s ten-year ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ program. Every year, new high-profile supporters get behind this non-commercial initiative, including Wernher von Braun, Leonard Bernstein, Astrid Lindgren, Michael Ende, the 14th Dalai Lama, Sir Peter Ustinov and, now, Iris Berben.

The international youth competition is an important element of the comprehensive corporate citizenship activities of the local cooperative banks in Germany. According to the latest corporate social responsibility figures for 2019, cooperative banks in Germany made voluntary financial contributions totaling €158 million to their local communities. Social engagement has thus increased by almost 10 percent compared to previous years. 97 percent of the local cooperative banks run programs for children and young people as part of their engagement with local communities.

The youth competition has been inspiring children and young people to engage creatively with issues affecting society for 50 years, with a new theme every year. This takes the competition beyond the purely creative dimension and has also made it an integral part of life in many schools. Cooperative banks from Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg, and Switzerland all collaborate in the organization of this long-running competition. With its international approach, ‘jugend creativ’ also promotes cooperation and the European idea.

Images, including the competition logo, and detailed information about the competition are available at www.jugendcreativ.de/pressebilder and www.jugendcreativ.de/pressematerial respectively.

For further information on #jugendcreativ please visit:

www.jugendcreativ.de (website)

www.jugendcreativ-video.de (video portal)

www.jugendcreativ-blog.de (blog)

www.facebook.com/jugendcreativ

www.instagram.com/jugendcreativ

Press contact at BVR:

Cornelia Schulz

Press spokesperson

Tel: +49 (0)30 2021 1330

Email: presse@bvr.de

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