The non-governmental organization with special consultative status of the United Nations “Paz y Cooperación” (Peace and Cooperation) within its “School for Peace and Cooperation” each year organizes the Peace and Cooperation School Award – an international competition with participation of the schools and children from many countries all over the world. Award Ceremony is organized every year in different country. The initiative for organization of the Award Ceremony in Belgrade was given by the Embassy of Serbia in Spain and Ambassador H.E. Mrs. Jela Baćović.

The theme of competition in 2009 was “The Peace and the United Nations” and among the winners there are the children from different countries as well as from Serbia.

The Award Ceremony was held on the 4th of February, in the City Hall of Belgrade. The ceremony, organized by Naša Srbija, was attended by the Mayor of Belgrade, Mr. Dragan Djilas, and Serbia’s First Lady, Ms. Tatjana Tadić, who was the patroness of this event, as well as Ambassador of Spain H.E. Mr. Iñigo de Palacio España, Serbian minister of education Žarko Obradović, and numerous guests from diplomatic choir who received diplomas on behalf of the children from their countries. In a hall next door there was an exposition with the 31 winning works.

School Award 2009 Ceremony winners had been chosen among the more than 6500 works, from 50 countries, that had been submitted in six different categories. The first prize for the category “Drawing” went to the Philippines, the one for the category “Poster and Slogan” went to Algeria and “Mural” was won by Lithuania. The first prize in “Photography” went to Turkey, the best “Message to Ban Ki Moon” had been submitted by Cyprus and Nigeria, whereas Korea and Mexico won the category for best Schools. The Special Mention went to the Kanoon Center for International Affairs in Tehran, Iran, whereas the Overall First Prize was obtained by the Korean Cheonseong Middle School who won two flight tickets offered by the American NGO Airline Ambassadors. The Secondary Education Center Magerit Vallecas received a prize for being the best Spanish participant. With a total of eleven diplomas, Korea was clearly the winner of the School Award 2009, ahead of the Philippines, Lithuania and Turkey.

Throughout the ceremony, Academic female choir Collegium Musicum with the conductor Mrs. Darinka Matić Marović with repertoire of songs from various countries took turns with Serbian pianist Sara Marjanović. In between these musical acts, the Ambassador of Spain in Serbia, Mr. Iñigo de Palacio Espana, Mrs. Sanja Bundalo of Naša Srbjia as well as Joaquín Antuña of Peace and Cooperation all held short speeches. After that, the moment came to distribute the diplomas, which was done in alphabetic order. The diplomas were handed out by the Serbian First Lady Tatjana Tadić, Ambassador Mr. Iñigo de Palacio Espana, and Mr. Joaquin Antuna.

The esteemed guests from diplomatic choir received diplomas which will be distributed to the winners: Ambassador of Algeria, H.E. Mr. Abdelkader Mesdoua, Ambassador of Cyprus, H.E. Mr. Homer Mavrommatis, Ambassador of Spain, H.E. Mr. de Palacio España, Ambassador of Kuwait, Mr. Fawzi Abdulaziz Ahmad Al-Jasem, counsellor in the Embassy of PR of China Mrs. Hua Yafang, Ambassador of Egypt H.E. Mr. Aly Galal Bassiouny, as well as Sousan Nikzat from Iran, accompanied by Mr. Habibollah Valiollahi Malekshah, charge d’ affairs in the Embassy of Iran, representative of the Embassy of Korea, Mr. Park Hoe Yun and Ambassador of Mexico, H.E. Mrs. Mercedes Felicitas Ruiz Zapata, and the Slovakian diplomatic representative Mrs. Barbora Hrusovska. The special moment during the act was when the four Serbian children – between five and seven years old – approached, along with their teacher, to get their diplomas: Jovana Kostadinović (5) from Niš,  Iva Španić (6) and Milena Rakočević (6) from Belgrade, and Isidora Kvrgić (9) from Nova Pazova. The Hemical Medical School from Vršac and its proffesor Olgica Lukač also were awarded with diplomas.

Mr. Antuña thanked the Mayor of Belgrade, Mr. Djilas, the Director of Naša Srbija, Mrs. Bundalo, the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Iñigo de Palacio España and First Lady Mrs. Tadić and gave them diplomas for their Special Contribution.

Meanwhile, the organization of this year’s School Award is already under way. The 2010 Peace and Cooperation School Award topic is “Take Care of Your Planet” – United against Climate Change. The competition was officially launched on December 3, 2009 during a press conference at the United Nations in New York, and will be confirmed in Belgrade during the School Day for Understanding and Peace, on February 7, 2010. Belgrade thus comes to form part of a series of cities, namely Lima, Bucaramanga, Barcelona, Madrid, Panama, Cairo and Mashhad, who have hosted this event.