The Village of the Year award has returned after a forced two-year break due to the Covid pandemic. The golden ribbon was awarded to Kostelec in the Hodonín district, which will go on to the national competition. Photo credit: JMK
Czech Republic, June 13 (BD) – A total of 175 municipalities in the Czech Republic entered the 26th Village of the Year competition, 20 of them from the South Moravian Region, the highest number of all regions. The region allocated CZK 1.4 million from its budget to organise the competition.
The Village of the Year competition is open to villages with a rural character which have a maximum population of 7,500 inhabitants, and which have prepared their own strategic document dealing with the development of the village, a village renewal programme, or a programme for the development of their territorial district. Applicants are always the municipality as a whole, including its local districts.
The Village of the Year competition promotes the countryside with its traditions and way of life. It draws attention to the importance of the countryside and encourages citizens to participate in the development of their homes.
This year’s competition awarded five different prizes; the village of Kostelec won the regional round with the golden ribbon, the white ribbon was awarded to Ochoz u Brna for its youth activities, and the blue ribbon for social life was awarded to Plenkovice. The green ribbon for taking care of greenery and environment was won by the municipality of Ořechov, and finally the municipality of Sudoměřice won the orange ribbon for cooperation between the municipality and agriculture.
The winning village, Kostelec, with 894 inhabitants, is located in the Hodonín district near the town of Kyjov, in the foothills of the Chřiby Mountains. There are nine civic associations and clubs in the village. Kostelec has a rich folklore life, and also collects patterns of original embroidery. The village has previously been awarded for being a family friendly village. There is an original school café within the primary school, where children offer refreshments to parents and other visitors. The village will now prepare for the national round.
“I am very, very happy that our region had the most municipalities entering the competition. We have a lot of great municipalities here and especially well run ones. Thank you to all of them for going for it, especially after a difficult period following Covid. I wish the winner to succeed in the national round and show that the best municipalities are in South Moravia,” said Jan Grolich, Governor of South Moravia.
