{"id":4061,"date":"2025-11-11T11:10:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/?p=4061"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:14:30","slug":"e-on-champions-of-the-earth-for-the-third-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/news\/e-on-champions-of-the-earth-for-the-third-time\/","title":{"rendered":"E.ON Champions of the Earth for the Third Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
Author: Katalin Szomol\u00e1nyi<\/strong><\/h6>\n

A day for and with those who channel climate anxiety into action.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the third consecutive year that E.ON, the energy company operating the power grid in Transdanubia, Pest County, and Budapest, has awarded kindergarten and school communities. This year, approximately 350 entries<\/b> were received, from which 13 projects<\/b> were recognized and granted up to 2.5 million HUF<\/b> each, based on the evaluation of a jury. The jury members included Guntram W\u00fcrzberg, CEO of E.ON Hung\u00e1ria Group; Di\u00e1na \u00dcrge-Vorsatz, Vice Chair of the IPCC; Lia Pokorny, actress; R\u00e9ka Nagy (\u00d6koanyu), climate communication expert; and myself, Katalin Szomol\u00e1nyi, founder and managing director of Planet Fanatics\u2019 Network. With 1,200 submissions<\/b> to date, 42 winning institutions<\/b>, and a total of 75 million HUF<\/b> in support, the competition has grown into a nationwide movement.<\/p>\n

A generation may grow up for whom the fundamental attitude towards sustainability and their own adulthood is not passive worry for the environment, but active shaping of the future. This could be the most important result of the process E.ON started with the Champions of the Earth competition. Through the initiative\u2014which has now reached every tenth Hungarian kindergarten and school directly or indirectly\u2014around 9,000 children have experienced that the environment around us can be protected and that the world will be what we shape it to be together through our decisions and actions.<\/p>\n

2025 Champions of the Earth<\/h3>\n

In Decs, Tolna County<\/b>, preschoolers learn about responsible animal husbandry and crop cultivation through a mini poultry yard and kitchen garden. In the Gy\u00e1l kindergarten’s<\/b> eco-camp, a story trail is being established with educational islands, a garden pond, and a hedgehog garage to bring the complexity of wildlife truly close to the little ones. In V\u00e1c<\/b>, Hungary’s first school sponge garden helps students master responsible and sustainable water use.<\/p>\n

The school garden in Kelenv\u00f6lgy<\/b> is being expanded with renewable energy, wetland, and bee-friendly elements. The community of the Kunpesz\u00e9r school<\/b> is planting a climate-friendly forest. In Visegr\u00e1d<\/b>, students observe protected bats living in the school’s basement using a monitoring station. The Gennaro Verolino High School in Budapest<\/b> is building its inclusive sustainability program around school gardening, involving preschoolers, elementary students, and young people with autism spectrum disorder and moderate intellectual disabilities. A high school in Debrecen<\/b> is launching a sustainability competition for all secondary schools in the region.<\/p>\n

The winning entries and their currently envisioned projects are as follows:<\/b><\/p>\n

Kindergartens<\/b><\/p>\n

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  • \n

    Decsi Tesz-Vesz Kindergarten:<\/b> “Tesz-Vesz Farm”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Gy\u00e1li T\u00e1tika Kindergarten, Bart\u00f3k B\u00e9la Road Site:<\/b> “P\u00f6tyi and Friends”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Ongai B\u00e1rsonyos Kindergarten and Nursery:<\/b> “Green Wizards”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Piliscsabai Szent L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Kindergarten:<\/b> “Love the Birds of the Sky!”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  • \n

    Szombathelyi H\u00e9tsz\u00ednvir\u00e1g Kindergarten:<\/b> “Rainbow Flower \u2013 Green World”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Primary Schools<\/b><\/p>\n

      \n
    • \n

      Ap\u00e1tk\u00fati Forest Primary School:<\/b> “Bat Station”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Budapest School Primary and High School:<\/b> “An Oasis for Our School!”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Kelenv\u00f6lgyi Primary School:<\/b> “Sustainable Garden Project” \u2013 Audience Award Winner<\/i><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Kunpesz\u00e9ri Primary School:<\/b> “Building a (Beautiful) Climate-Friendly Forest”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      Pilisborosjen\u0151i German Ethnic Primary School:<\/b> “Eco-Bandits for the Future”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

    • \n

      V\u00e1ci Juh\u00e1sz Gyula Primary School:<\/b> “Sponge Garden”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      High Schools<\/b><\/p>\n

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        Budapest Gennaro Verolino Kindergarten, Primary School, Skills Development School and Dormitory:<\/b> “Colorful Hearts for a Green Future”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

      • \n

        Debreceni Csokonai Vit\u00e9z Mih\u00e1ly High School:<\/b> “With Momentum for a Sustainable Future”<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Personal Experience<\/h3>\n

        The reason I hold this project in high regard, both professionally and personally, is the consistent<\/b> and genuine care for future generations. This is not a one-day, “the agency will handle it” award ceremony, but almost a full year of work.<\/p>\n

        The award gala is about allowing the winners to grow emotionally, professionally, and communally. Winners from the previous year also attended this year\u2014this is how a community is formed. There was a professional discussion in the form of a roundtable (which was actually a rectangle ;)), and a professional lecture given by Di\u00e1na \u00dcrge-Vorsatz. There was laughter thanks to the Itt \u00e9s Most (Here and Now) improvisational theater and Gergely Litkai’s presentation, there was a singing lesson, and even a Nature Trail game.<\/p>\n

        A full day for those educators who, on top of their daily work, take on the task of inventing and coordinating actions aimed at environmental education, shaping a vision of the future, and alleviating anxiety for children and young people.<\/p>\n

        A day when\u2014for the third year now\u2014I feel at this event that the E.ON organizers truly do everything they can to ensure that the educators and winners are recharged both emotionally and professionally on this day, thanks to their genuine care.<\/p>\n

        This is why participating in this program is a grateful task. Thank you! I encourage everyone involved to join the Champions of the Earth community next year and apply.<\/p>\n

        [We wrote about the 2024 Champions of the Earth here, and the 2023 ones here.]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        A day for and with those who channel climate anxiety into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[358,359,360,357,361,353],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4062,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4061\/revisions\/4062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.planetfanatics.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}