Online awarding ceremony for the winners of the «Dniester Colours» contest

The online awarding ceremony for the winners of the «Dniester Colours» contest took place on the eve of the Dniester Day, on May 23, 2025.

The contest, which was uninterruptedly organized since 2008, has been engaging a broad audience from the Dniester River basin in the Republic of Moldova (including Transdniestria) and Ukraine and contributed to raising awareness on environmental protection and transboundary water management in the region via creative means. The slogan for the 2024 contest was “For Peace and Sustainable Development of the Dniester River Basin”.

Despite all obstacles related to war and forced relocation of millions of Ukrainians, most of whom are women and children, the competition managed to gather over 749 unique entries from the region. 110 submissions were chosen as winners in the different nominations.

Due to the security situation caused by the war, an online event was held in Ukraine, bringing together the organizers of the contest, participants, winners, teachers, members of the evaluation committee and volunteers from different parts of Ukraine. Regarding to the security situation in the region, some participants and winners of the Colors of the Dniester contest in 2024 were able to communicate online from their homes, and some children were able to come to the offices  of the Dniester Basin Water Resources Authority, the Prut and Siret River Basin Water Resources Authority, the Western Bug and Sian River Basin Water Resources Authority, the Regional Water Resources Office in Ternopil Oblast, and the Mohyliv-Podilskyi City Council for to receive their prizes.

Unfortunately, at that time Odesa was under a combined attack by ballistic missiles and drones. The winners of the contest from the Center for Extracurricular Education of the Ovidiopol Village Council had to wait out waiting for the end of the air attack in a safe corridor without windows (unfortunately, there was no shelter) and only after the air attack was over, the winners, teachers and volunteers have received their prizes.

In 2024, the contest was carried out with the financial support of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as with the support of the State Water Resources Agency of Ukraine.

Ambassador Bakyt Dzhusupov, from the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA) addressed the auditorium with a video greetings.

Maria Shpanchyk, representative of the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, co-chair of the organizing committee, deputy head of the Dniester Basin Water Resources Authority Vitalii Andriiichuk, and co-chair of the organizing committee, Deputy Director, Apele Moldovei Agency Radu Cazacu, welcomed the winners.

It was also announced that the next «Colours of the Dniester» contest will be launched in 2025 under the slogan: “Colors of the Dniester – a common art of river protection”. Entries will be accepted from May 26 to November 1, 2025.

After the ceremony, the winners were awarded by valuable prizes.

The booklet with the works of the winners of the “Colours of the Dniester” – 2024 contest is available here.