Each year, since 2017, finalists in eight categories have been announced in the political initiative competition "Political Innovation Awards" organized in Vienna. Panevėžys City municipality projects "Creative Home(less)" and "Creating STEAM - an Open - Access Centre" were among the finalists. The winners will be announced at a Gala Event in Warsaw on May 11.

"We are happy that even two projects of Panevėžys City Municipality compete with the strongest ones implemented in European countries. Once again it proves that Panevėžys is a purpose and quality oriented. We are delighted that the ongoing works not only bring benefits to the city community, but they are also noticed and awarded even at the European level", says Panevėžys City Mayor Rytis Račkauskas.

The purpose of the Policy Innovation Awards is to notice, present and honour politicians and communities who have the courage to break the new ground, improve people's lives, and strengthen the state- regardless of their political affiliation or level of government.

In May, the finalists and winners in 8 categories: democracy, climate protection, democracy technologies, government improvement, social cohesion, local development, education, party innovation will be awarded. The project “Creative Home(less)” has been noticed in the category of social cohesion and “STEAM – an OPEN-ACCESS CENTRE” – under the category of education.

This year, over 337 projects from 26 European countries have been submitted. The jury of 1045 citizens have been working with evaluation process taking into consideration the level of innovations, inclusion, social trust and sustainability. The winners will be announced at a gala event in May.

In implementing the project "Creative Home(less)" the aim was to encourage the residents of Shelter for Homeless of Panevėžys City Social Service Centre to discover and reveal themselves through art, to gain independence, self-worth, joy of life and courage in making decisions, to promote cooperation between the health, social care and art sectors and to experience the benefits of integrating art activities. 23 residents of the Shelter for Homeless took part in the art therapy sessions. In groups of 5-6 people, the project participants attended 14 academic hours of art therapy classes. By presenting the artistic works created by the project participants to the public, the aim of the exhibition was to reduce the social isolation of the group and the negative attitude of the public.

During the project "STEAM – an Open-Access Centre", a new science and knowledge space with the highest standards was established for the students of Panevėžys region. Knowledge and practical skills of nature, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics is being developed there. In modern laboratories, the students of 7-12 classes perform various tests and experiments. Olympiads, competitions, educational activities, meetings with representatives of various professions, etc. are held at the institution. The centre has 4 specialized laboratories with the latest equipment, various modern devices, robots, their control and programming systems. Chemistry, physics, engineering, robotics, IT and an artificial intelligence laboratory was established.