Awarding Ceremony on #OurLakeOhrid Social Media Competition

A small awarding ceremony was organized at the Palace of Culture, in Pogradec on 10 May 2016, to announce 10 winners of #OurLakeOhrid Social Media Photo Competition.

Ten winners are: Adnan Beci; Teodora Krasimirova Koleva; Betim Berisha; Elena Nikolovska; Ardian Fezollari; Slavica Panova; Marijana Pipe Pipileva; Stefanija Vidovski; Nikola Naumoski; Marko Blazevski

The social media competition had a wide coverage with participants mainly from Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria and other countries, people who visited Lake Ohrid and shared their memories, stories emotions. Three of winners made their journey to attend the ceremony in Pogradec. Organizers used this opportunity to share the news, and the location of Palace of Culture at the heart of the city of Pogradec was chosen to give more visibility to the project.

The Photo &Story Contest on Lake Ohrid, was launched on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lakeohrid/ and on Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LakeOhridHeritage and lasted from 7 March to 7 April 2016. The aim of this photo contest was to raise awareness about the values and importance of trans-boundary Lake Ohrid among people from both sides of the Lake.

The social media competition was organized in the framework of the Project: "Towards strengthened governance of the shared trans-boundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid region", which is supported by the European Union and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Albania.

UNESCO Project Officer of this project Mrs Alexandra Fiebig thanked all participants in this Social Media Competition and congratulated the winners on behalf of UNESCO.

Winners were given certificates and gift bags branded with Lake Ohrid Region (LOR) project logo. (each bag containing: a LOR coat, a LOR thermos cup, a LOR 8GB USB key, a LOR notebook and a pen).

Check top 10 photos here http://lakeohrid.blogspot.al/2016/05/10-winners-of-ourlakeohrid-social-media.html

"I am not here to talk as photographer, but as a citizen. We didn't run for the prize, but this is a chance to contribute somehow to our Lake Ohrid. We owe it to our Lake"-said one of the winners based on Pogradec, Mr Fezollari.

More than 450 photos were posted on Instagram and Facebook through this competition, and at the first stage there were 50 best photos voted from UNESCO and its advisory bodies, ICOMOS, IUCN, and ICCROM. At the final stage Albanian Government institutions as well we EU and other partners expressed their votes. The good number of submission showed a high interest from local communities, but also from tourists toward the values and beauties of Lake Ohrid.
Another competition will run at a later stage, and the panel of voters will include the top ten winners of this competition.

The #OurLakeOhrid social media competition was organized by UNESCO in cooperation with PR company in Tirana, Manderina Promotions.