24.04.2025.
Awards presented to winners of ‘Our Soldier, our Hero’ Contest
The winners of the ‘Our Soldier, Our Hero’ contest organised by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Education were traditionally presented with their awards at the Central Military Club in Belgrade, today. The topic of this year’s award contest was 'The Second Serbian Uprising - 210 Years of the Serbian Armed Forces', in the following categories: the Serbian language, visual culture, and techniques and technologies.
The primary school pupils whose works won the contest received their awards from Colonel Đorđe Kalanj, PhD, Head of the Department for Tradition, Standards and Veterans, and Milan Pašić, PhD, Assistant Minister of Education for Preschool and Primary Education.
Colonel Kalanj noted that interest in the contest continues to grow, which provides a strong incentive to continue with this and similar initiatives setting the judging panel an “increasingly challenging task”.
- “This year’s theme, ‘The Second Serbian Uprising – 210 Years of the Serbian Armed Forces’ that, just as in previous years, was not chosen at random, because this year, in memory of the beginning of the Second Serbian Uprising, on 23rd April, we celebrate the jubilee of the Serbian Armed Forces. On that day in 1815, during Palm Sunday, a gathering in Takovo, from where Prince Miloš Obrenović, accompanied by his rebels, embarked on a new campaign to free the enslaved Serbian people and restore the Serbian statehood. Colonel Kalanj said that Serbia was recognised as an independent state in 1878 under the successors of Miloš Obrenović, adding that the quality of pupils’ works is steadily improving and expressed confidence that creativity will not be lacking in the next cycle of the contest.
Assistant Minister of Education Pašić emphasised that the contest aims to encourage and motivate pupils to think and have a deeper understanding of our national values and traditions, and to promote the military vocation.
- This is not merely a creativity contest — it’s an opportunity for pupils to develop a deeper sense of respect for the glorious history of their country and the sacrifices made for our freedom. This year’s theme of the contest allowed them to explore one of the most pivotal periods in Serbian history, as it reminds us of the historical moments that shaped our nation” Pašić said, adding that cooperation between the Ministries of Defence and Education is crucial for nurturing education, culture, and building awareness about the importance and role of the Serbian Armed Forces.
At this year’s ‘Our Soldier, Our Hero’ contest for for the first to fourth grade, in the Serbian language category, Vuk Milovanović, a fourth grade pupil at the ‘Mića Stojković’ Primary School – Pudarci Extension in Umčari, won first place and the award for best literary work, with teacher Nada Mlinar whose another fourth grade pupil, Jovan Ljubisavljević, won the second placem while the third place went to Nikolina Cvetković, a fourth-grade pupil at the ‘Vožd Karađorđe’ Primary School in Leskovac, with teacher Sunčica Mitić.
Among the awarded younger primary school pupils is Vukašin Đošić, a fourth grade pupil at the ‘Ljupče Nikolić’ Primary School in Aleksinac, won first place in the techniques and technologies category.
Within the same category, the second place went to another pupil of teacher Natasa Bogdanović, Matija Rakić, also a fourth-grade pupil, and third place was won by third-grade pupil Filip Kukurić of the ‘Vladislav Ribnikar’ Primary School in Belgrade with teacher Ramona Ruchnov.
In the category of fine arts, the winner was Ajla Mandal, a fourth-grade pupil of the ‘Desanka Maksimović’ Primary School in Priboj, with teacher Snezana Nikolić. The second-prize winning artist was Filip Dinić, a third-grade pupil of the ‘Vuk Karadžić’ Primary School in Surdulica, with teacher Siniša Milenković, while third place was won by first-grader Strahinja Baćić of the ‘Desanka Maksimović’ Primary School in Bačka Palanka with teacher Snežana Milaković.
In the Serbian language category for fifth to eighth graders, first place and the award for the best literary work went to Nina Trajković, a sixth-grade pupil at the ‘Njegoš’ Primary School in Niš, and her teacher Milica Ćurčić. The second place went to Luka Petrović, a seventh-grade pupil at the ‘Sveta Mihajlović’ Primary School in Burovac, with her teacher Vesna Babić, while third place went to Lara Petrović, a sixth-grade pupil at the ‘Jovan Jovanović Zmaj’ Primary School in Aleksinac, with her teacher Marija Petrović.
The award for the best artwork by senior Primary school pupils went to Katarina Bekić, a seventh-grade pupil at the ‘Franc Prešern’ Primary School in Belgrade and her teacher Tanja Đokić, in second place was Maša Zeljković, a fifth-grade pupil at the ‘Sveti Sava’ Primary School in Sremska Mitrovica, the Divoš district school with her teacher Milica Džambič, and third place was won by Aleksa Marković, an eighth-grade pupil at the ‘Vožd Karađorđe’ Primary School in Leskovac with his teacher Anđelka Savić.
The best senior primary school pupils in the field of engineering and technology are - in first place, a seventh-grade pupil at the ‘Branko Ćopić’ Primary School in Belgrade, Ljubica Nikitović, with her teacher Jasmina Simović, in second place was Lana Milosavljević, an eighth-grade pupil at the ‘Vuk Karadžić’ PrimarySchool in Žitkovac with teacher Daniel Petrović, and Stefan Božić, a fifth-grade pupil at the ‘Miloš Crnjanski’ Primary School in Žablje with teacher Igor Kostovski, came in third place.
A judging panel composed of representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Education awarded prizes to the three best works and the prizes included free seven-day stays in the facilities of the Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces for rest and recreation on Tara, in Vrnjačka Banja, and in Morović. The prizes are awarded to children who created works with one companion, as well as to teachers of the subject, or class teaching, of the subject from which the pupil created the work.
The award-winning Katarina Bekić did not hide her happiness about the award, because, as she said, she put a lot of effort into creating the awarded art work.
- My teacher really inspired me, and I listened to her advice. It was my first time entering the contest and I am glad that I won the award - said Katarina.
Vukašin Đošić has already won awards and, speaking about this year’s contest, he emphasised that it was “very interesting”.
- If it continues like this next year - we will be honoured. The teacher told us about the contest, and the idea “came by itself” - Vukašin said, adding that when he grows up he would like to play some sport.
The teacher of the two awarded pupils, Nada Mlinar, said that she talks a lot about the history of Serbia with her pupils in class.
- This always inspires them to write and to enter the literary contest. Last year, the work of one of my pupils was awarded, this year we sent two works and both were awarded - proudly pointed out the teacher of one of the awardees, Vuk Milovanović, who won the award by writing a poem on the given topic.
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