Carinthian human rights prize for Bovec Summer School and major successes for the sport climber Janja Garnbret

We see ourselves as a company with a regional and supraregional responsibility. Every year, in line with this guiding principle, we support projects in the fields of education, culture and sport as a sponsor and patron. We would now like to use the new year as an opportunity to highlight two projects that posted remarkable successes in 2018.

The bilateral OeAD Summer School is held every year in Bovec in Slovenia under the leadership of university professor Prof. Dr. Vladimir Wakounig from the University of Klagenfurt. Participants from Austria, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia learn the languages that give the people in this multilingual region a local affinity and a linguistic and cultural identity. Bovec Summer School is a peace project that celebrated its 25-year anniversary in 2018 and has now been presented with the human rights prize of the province of Carinthia.

Nineteen-year-old Janja Garnbret is a Slovenian sport climber who began her career at the age of 14 and had her first successes at various youth championships early on. In 2016 and 2017, she dominated the competitions of the International Federation of Sport Climbing. At the World Cups, Garnbret came in the first three 18 times; and of these, she came first twelve times alone and came first in the overall rankings twice in succession. In September 2018, she became world champion in bouldering and combined. She was also voted Sportswoman of the Year in Slovenia in mid-December 2018.

The outstanding performances of the University of Klagenfurt and of the sport climber Janja Garnbret fill us as a sponsor with great pride and at the same time are an incentive for us for further pioneering projects. We congratulate both winners and wish them much continued success.