The Barthel Foundation is awarding a total of 43,000 euros for social projects in southern Friesland as part of the "Friesland's Heroes of the Homeland" competition. Anyone can nominate one or even several projects that are committed to "education & upbringing" or "environmental protection". The aim of the competition is to strengthen civic engagement in the South Friesland region and to give visibility to little-known initiatives. It also aims to motivate and inspire people to get involved in civil society who have not yet done so. Nominations are now open for projects that touch on the South Friesland region. After being scrutinised, the projects will be published on www.friesland.heldenderheimat.de. A high-calibre jury will select the best projects, which will be honoured at an awards ceremony on 16 June 2018. Three projects will be honoured in each of the two categories Education & Training and Environmental Protection: 1st place: €10,000,
2nd place: €5,000,
3rd place: €2,500 There is also a special public prize worth €8,000. Go to the website www.friesland.heldenderheimat.de now and nominate the initiative that deserves our support.

Participation and procedure

Participants:
The competition is open to all institutions and organisations recognised as non-profit organisations that want to promote the South Friesland region with their initiatives. This also includes initiatives or private individuals who are still in the start-up phase and are seeking to become a non-profit organisation at a later date. The geographical boundaries are drawn according to the scope of the LEADER project. Whether the initiative is still in the idea phase or already exists is initially irrelevant. The project does not have to generate income either. Individuals can also take part if there is a firm intention to form a team in the future. The competition is also explicitly open to institutions and organisations that are not based in the South Friesland region but want to create or generate an impact in the region with their commitment. An organisation can also submit several entries if they are independent of each other in terms of their impact. In addition, the project must not have received any financial support from the Barthel Foundation. Nomination:
Projects and initiatives can be nominated for participation from 10 January 2018 to 30 April 2018. The nominated projects will be reviewed with regard to the conditions of participation. We will then inform the named contacts about the competition and support them in submitting an application. Application deadline:
Applications can be submitted between 1 February 2018 and 15 May 2018. They can only be submitted using the online form provided here. Further procedure:
In the first step, the submissions will be checked for compliance with the formal criteria (including completeness of information) and the conditions of participation and then published online at www.friesland.heldenderheimat.de. At the end of the application phase, a jury will select the winners. There will also be an online vote via this website. The voting phase ends the day before the award ceremony. Three jury prizes (totalling 10,000 euros, 5,000 euros and 2,500 euros) and an audience prize (totalling 8,000 euros) will be awarded in each category at a closing event. Participation in the closing event is obligatory for the finalists. You can find all further information here.