10.05.2022.
Ministers Stefanović and Ružić present awards to winners of "Our Soldier, Our Hero" competition
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, and First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Branko Ružić have presented awards today to elementary school students, winners of "Our Soldier, Our Hero" competition. Minister Stefanović has congratulated the award winners and noted that the second competition cycle has been organized to mark 110th anniversary of the foundation of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence.
- We are proud that this has become a tradition. When these two ministries first agreed to organize such a beautiful event where children would show how they see our soldiers, we had no idea that so many children would enter the competition and create so many nice works of art - said Minister Stefanović, who presented awards to elementary school students in grades 5-8.According to him, he and Minister Ružić have been given the special honour of presenting awards to students for the wonderful works they have created, while the selection committee has had its hands full.
- This time, we wanted the competition to be dedicated to our pilots, protectors of our sky, and to present awards to you in the Defence Ministry’s grand hall and show you this cultural treasure of Serbia. We wanted to show you how difficult military profession is, but also how beautiful it is. We also wanted to show you the importance of all the things that our soldiers protect, the importance of protecting our country - said Minister Stefanović, addressing the award winners.Minister Stefanović said he was happy that our elementary school students liked the competition and its topic and that they had enthusiastically responded.
- I hope that those who have been awarded will have a great time in our resorts. I am glad you will visit Tara, one of our most beautiful mountains. I would like to thank your parents and teachers, all the people who have helped you become so smart and learn so much about our military. I would like us to keep organizing this competition in the future and thus show our appreciation for everything our soldiers do for us, for protecting our country. I would like us to show our pilots, tankers, artillery and infantrymen and other members of our armed forces how important they are to us - said Minister Stefanović noting that each competition cycle is dedicated to one branch of the Serbian Armed Forces.Minister Ružić has presented awards to elementary school students attending grades 1-4 and said that this competition was a continuation of good and fruitful cooperation between the two ministries in the field of education.
- The competition aims to familiarize students with soldiers’ and pilots’ professions and their importance for our beautiful Serbia. During the educational process, a special emphasis is placed on developing and fostering these values that are part of the identity of each of us and it is important that we preserve, foster and enrich them and understand that in addition to our homes and parents, we have another home - our school - said Minister Ružić.He said that this was an opportunity for students to demonstrate their talent for composition writing and knowledge of technology.
Srna Simić, a second-grade student of "Aca Aleksić" Elementary School, Aleksandrovac, and teacher Zorica Bošković won the first prize at the literary contest for students attending grades 1-4. Lana Bjelica, a fourth-grade student of “Slavko Rodić” Elementary School, Bački Jarak, and teacher Ljiljana Karanović took second place, and Mia Hondus, a third-grade student of “Veljko Dugošević” Elementary School, Ruma, took third place.
Ivana Kosanović, a sixth-grade student of "Slavko Rodić" Elementary School, Bački Jarak, and teacher Jarmila Valihora took first place at the same contest for students attending grades 5-8. The second place was taken by Anja Kljajić, a fifth-grade student of "Braća Grulović" Elementary School, Beška, and teacher Zorica Vračarević. The third place was taken by Andrej Jović, a seventh-grade student of "Branko Radičević" Elementary School, Vranje.At the art contest for students attending grades 1-4, the first place was taken by Novak Dinić, a second-grade student of "Vuk Karadžić" Elementary School, Surdulica, and teacher Violeta Stanković, the second prize went to Una Vunjak, who attends the fourth grade at "Slavko" Rodić” Elementary School in Bački Jarak and teacher Ljiljana Karanović. The third place was taken by Veljko Ormanović, a first-grade student of "Prva Osnovna Škola" Elementary School, Valjevo.
The first place at the art contest for students attending grades 5-8 was taken by Sara Veljković, a seventh-grade student of “Vožd Karađorđe” Elementary School, Leskovac, and teacher Anđelka Savić. The second place was taken by Helena Stanković, a fifth-grader attending “Svetislav Mirković Nenad” Elementary School in Prokuplje, and teacher Andrijana Simeon Tošić and the third prize went to Matija Goranović, a sixth-grade student of "Vožd Karađorđe" Elementary School, Leskovac.
At the technology contest, Nina Marković, a fifth-grade student of “Vožd Karađorđe” Elementary School, Leskovac, and teacher Žarko Matić won the first prize. The second prize went to Petra Zdravković, a sixth-grade student attending the same school, and teacher Slađana Dimitrijević. Another student of this school, sixth-grader Selena Savić, won the third place.The first and second prize winners get a seven-day paid holiday in the “Tara” and “Morović” rest and recreation facilities of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, and the third prize winners are awarded a book.
