More than twice as many educational and child protection institutions applied as last year.
For the third time, with expanded content and additional categories, the Center for Animal Welfare of the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest and the editorial committee of the “Animal Protection for Children” Facebook page announced their competition for obtaining the titles of “Animal-Friendly” and “Animal Advocate” for educational institutions. In addition to kindergartens and primary schools, nurseries, high schools, and children’s homes were also eligible to apply.
The success of previous competitions is demonstrated by the fact that the number of participating institutions has doubled compared to the previous year: a total of 361 individual applications were received by the April 30 deadline (22 nurseries, 233 kindergartens, 92 primary schools, 8 high schools, 5 children’s homes, and 1 developmental institution), which is more than twice as many as last year. All institutions are entitled to use the title “animal-friendly” for one year. The number of participating primary schools increased from fifty (last year) to ninety-two, and the number of kindergartens increased from one hundred twenty to two hundred thirty-three, with additional applicants in the new categories. The competition expected applications from educational and child protection institutions that make significant efforts in animal protection and strive to incorporate responsible pet ownership into education through diverse and creative programs.
In addition to the title “animal-friendly,” the following titles can be obtained in the 2023 competition:
✓ “Best Animal-Friendly Nursery 2023”
✓ “Best Animal-Friendly Kindergarten 2023”
✓ “Best Animal-Friendly Primary School 2023”
✓ “Best Animal-Friendly High School 2023”
✓ “Best Animal-Friendly Children’s Home 2023”
The received works were evaluated by an animal protection and educational expert jury. The winners of the competition will receive their awards and certificates at a ceremony held at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest on June 21, traditionally presented by Rector Prof. Dr. Péter Sótonyi. Three winners will be awarded in each category, resulting in a total of 15 winning institutions being announced at the June award ceremony. In addition to certificates, gifts and surprise experiences, the Center of Animal Welfare of the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest will also hold an animal protection training for all animal-friendly educational institutions this year, building on the collected best practices, similar to last year.
The list of the 361 educational and child protection institutions winning the “Animal-friendly” title is available at the following link: