AUSTRIA, January 15 - Foreign Minister announces 10th annual competition for innovative intercultural and interreligious projects – the deadline for submissions is 15th March 2023

For the past decade, the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs has granted the Intercultural Achievement Award to recognise outstanding, innovative international and domestic initiatives from civil society. The award aims to demonstrate best-practice models and motivate people to work on intercultural and interreligious projects in the areas of art and culture, young people, human rights, global citizenship education, integration, and gender equality.

With the Intercultural Achievement Award, we highlight key projects for intercultural dialogue around the world that help improve our mutual understanding and thus peaceful co-existence. With prize money totalling over 400,000 euros so far, the Foreign Ministry has made a significant contribution to continuing these exceptional and valuable projects in Austria and abroad,

said Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

Overall, since the Foreign Ministry first created the Intercultural Achievement Award, 320,000 euros in prize money have been paid out to international initiatives, and 84,000 euros to national initiatives, for their outstanding work. The more than 1,600 submissions from 99 different countries since 2014 indicate the award’s growing profile and relevance in the area of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

In 2023, the prize will be awarded in the following categories:

•  Sustainability/Environment: Best ongoing intercultural and/or interreligious project with a focus on the environment
• Topicality: Best intercultural and/or interreligious project relating to a current event
• Technology: Best use of technology to support an intercultural and/or interreligious project
• Innovation: Most innovative intercultural and/or interreligious project
• Media: Best media contribution to intercultural and/or interreligious understanding  
• Integration in Austria
• Best Austrian project for the categories of Sustainability, Topicality, Technology, or Innovation

The submission deadline for projects is 15^th March 2023.

The Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs would like to thank the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria, the Austrian Development Agency, and the Austrian Integration Fund for their valued long-time collaboration on the Intercultural Achievement Award.

More information about the competition can be found on the Intercultural Achievement Award website: www.intercultural-achievement.com