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Participants in Eco-Innovation in Education Awards
- Since its launch in 2016, 75,000 pupils from 525 primary schools across Spain have taken part in the Eco-Innovation in Education Awards, contributing new ideas and innovative solutions in environmental conservation and in ecological activism.
- For this, the third such annual event, the winning projects stood out because of their creativity, their social impact and their profound understanding of the natural world: a vertical garden which generates its own energy, a proposal to reduce plastic use in hypermarkets, and a co-operative project to improve the habitat for livestock farming and agriculture in the countryside of Galicia.
- Teachers, pupils and family members from the shortlisted and winning schools, and a large number of executives from the educational and environmental sector attended the awards ceremony, on 21 June at Endesa’s head office in Madrid.
Identifying creative, innovative ideas and attitudes, committed to making a difference to the environment among the youngest members of our community is the aim of the Premios a la Ecoinnovación Educativa (Eco-Innovation in Education Awards), given by the Fundación Endesa. The Fundación Europea Sociedad y Educación (European Foundation Society and Education) is a strategic partner for this project.
The awards ceremony for this third competition, held at Endesa’s head office in Madrid, included the heads of all seven projects which had made it to the final. The Awards Committee, which met on 30 May, assessed all the projects and judged the best initiatives in this third competition, which ended up with 354 entries from all over the country, taking part in one of the following three categories:
- What does ‘nature’ mean to you?
- My creative solution to an environmental problem
- How would you improve your environment?
The winning three projects come from schools in the Basque Country, Aragón and Galicia; the four schools that reached the final as runners-up were the Community of Valencia, Extremadura, Castilla y León and Andalucía. The rate of participation this year is 77% higher than in the first year.
In Category 1, the winner was Colegio La Salle Bilbao in Biscay, with “School natura”, a vertical garden built on the wall of their own school, which exploits the plants’ photosynthesis to generate energy, using batteries. The runner up in this category was Colegio San José de la Montaña in Valencia, with ‘Más que montones de arena, somos vida: ¡Conócenos!’ (We are more than just piles of sand: we are life! Get to know us!).
In Category 2, ‘My creative solution to an environmental problem’, the winning project came from Colegio Sagrado Corazón - Corazonistas La Mina in Zaragoza, with ‘Stop plastic: Keep the Green’, which proposes a range of alternatives to plastic use, and presents 3D drawings of the proposed redesigned packaging, which have been presented to a number of supermarkets. The project “Silenciaremos el ruido por nuestros compañeros con TEA” (We will silence the noise for our peers with ASD), from IES San Roque in Badajoz, was the runner up in this category.
In Category 3, ‘How would you improve your environment?’, the prize goes to IES Plurilingüe San Rosendo in Lugo, for their project ‘Proxecto Rebinxe’ – an initiative aiming to attract participation from the whole of the educational community, local authorities, businesses and conservation associations, with the objective of improving the situation for indigenous fauna – especially species linked to the Galician countryside and to the livestock and agricultural farming habitat in the region. In addition, two runners up were selected in this category: CEIP Virgen de Sacedón in Valladolid, with ‘Proyecto Salacia’, and CEIP Las Lomas in Almería with ‘La infancia, la filosofía y los jardines. Ciudadanía creativa en el jardín de Juanita’ (Childhood, Philosophy and Gardens: Creative citizenship in the Juanita garden).
Find out more about the winning projects: Winners of the 3rd Edition
In the awards ceremony, Carlos Gómez-Múgica, Director General of the Fundación Endesa, stressed the importance of this project ‘which aims to encourage environmental education in the youngest generation.’ As special guests at the ceremony, Nicolás Valiente and Elizabeth León, two young Spanish researchers, held a conference with the pupils about Agenda 2030 and the role that can be played by the winning local initiatives to achieve the Sustainable Development Objectives.
About Fundación Endesa
Fundación Endesa, under the leadership of Juan Sánchez-Calero, has demonstrated a clear commitment to social development through its educational projects, vocational training, environmental programmes and cultural initiatives.
It boosts educational projects by means of initiatives aimed at transforming and innovating in education at all levels and fostering academic excellence in universities through scholarships, grants and academic chairs.
It supports employment training projects, focusing on the promotion of talent, aimed at people at risk of social exclusion, low-income young entrepreneurs and professionals over the age of 50.
It promotes environmental initiatives related to education in ecological culture and promotion of energy efficiency. Moreover, environmental impact reduction projects in industrial areas are another commitment of Fundación Endesa.
Last, but by no means least, the foundation continues to work on shining a light on historical-artistic heritage properties and promoting, restoring and preserving art and culture.
More information at: http://www.fundacionendesa.org/
About European Foundation Society and Education
The European Foundation Society and Education is a private-sector independent body, which promotes public defence of education as a keystone in progress and development of democratic societies. Its Socio-Educational Research Institute carries out research from legal, political, educational, economic and sociological standpoints, opening up spaces for reflection, analysis, training and consultancy to institutions and bodies both in the public and private sectors. Through its work alongside Fundación Endesa, it helps shape our youth and the education system into the protagonists and actors in a new ecological culture, being committed and responsible.
More information at: http://www.sociedadyeducacion.org/