The ECCAR 20th Anniversary Panel, which took place during the ECCAR General Conference on 25 September 2024 in Heidelberg, also celebrated the winners of this year’s ECCAR Award.
This year, 11 cities applied for the Award. Botkyrka, the City of Bologna, Schaerbeek, and Zurich from the category of cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, as well as Ingelheim and Dudelange from the category of cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, were pre-selected by the ECCAR Board, the ECCAR Scientific Advisory Council, and the ECCAR Office to present their projects in front of the General Assembly in Heidelberg.
All presentations were exceptional. The projects showcased measures to tackle racism within the city administration, education, communication, and appreciation of cultural diversity. However, ECCAR cities that were present at the General Assembly could only vote for one winner per category - and the race was tough.
The ECCAR Office, the ECCAR Scientific Advisory Council, and the ECCAR Board congratulate the winners! In the category of cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, Botkyrka (Sweden) was awarded for its TikTok campaign “Reimagining Place: Participatory Communications in the Context of Diversity”, which engaged the local youth from racialised communities. In the category of cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, Dudelange (Luxembourg) won the award for its project on cultural diversity titled “Month of Respect", which addressed the issue of how to communicate one’s ideas and feelings respectfully.
The timing of the ECCAR Award re-launch was especially significant as the General Assembly gathered 41 ECCAR member cities to witness the event, along with the conference’s special guests, ECCAR co-founder Dr Hans Hesselmann and Linda Tinio-Le Douarin from UNESCO. In the next step, ECCAR President Benedetto Zacchiroli will visit the winning cities to deliver their physical award and the monetary prize of 2,500 Euro toward funding training, a team building day, or similar activity for the city administration staff.
