Today’s presentation of the awards to the best kindergartens and primary schools marks the end of the project Encourage Friendship (“Spodbujamo prijateljstvo”), which was organized by BTC and Sobivanje – Society for Sustainable Development (“Sobivanje – Dru\u0161tvo za trajnostni razvoj”). At the end of the competition, the aim of which was to encourage children in kindergartens and primary schools to think positively about their friends, peers and family, the organizers put up an exhibition of the received works, which will be open to the public on the lower floor of the Emporium hall in BTC City Ljubljana till June 15th.<\/strong><\/P> As part of the competition the children put their thoughts about their friends and everything else important to them on a piece of paper, either by drawing a picture or taking a photograph. More than a thousand children from 50 Slovene primary schools and kindergartens took part in the competition. The organizers received 61 different works of art. All the works were examined by a judging panel, which judged the originality of the idea, the outlook of the work and the effort put in.<\/P> First prize among kindergartens went to the unit Barjan\u010dek from Vrhnika, the second to the unit Son\u010dnice from Zagorje ob Savi and the third to kindergarten Mav\u010di\u010de. First prize among primary schools went to O\u0160 Fran Albreht from Kamnik, the second to O\u0160 Radenci and the third to the pupils of O\u0160 narodnega heroja Maksa Pe\u010darja from Ljubljana.<\/P> “In the scope of the competition the children have discovered how they are able to help each other and who they can trust through reflecting and developing relationships. They were encouraged to think about their friends and the time they spent together, as we wanted to remind them of all the nice moments they experienced while they helped others or received help by them, as well as of all those uncomfortable moments, which they never would like to relive. The big response to the competition shows the popularity of such events, therefore we will strive towards more such events in the future”, said Nada Pav\u0161er, the president of Sobivanje – Society of Sustainable Development.<\/P> The competition Encourage Friendship is part of the programme School of coexistence (“\u0160ola sobivanja”), which combines projects from various fields of sustainable development, encouraging numerous educational institutions, schools and kindergartens to take part. The importance of relationships is only one of the features of the programme, which strives towards a fairer society and a better quality of life for younger and older populations. <\/P> Additional information:<\/strong><\/P> BTC d.d., Maja Oven, Director of the Market Communication and Public Relations Sector<\/P>