The Heritage Hubs project funded by Creative Europe has been named the winner of the EU’s 2021 Europa Nostra Award for Cultural Heritage. The award is the highest recognition in cultural heritage in Europe.

Heritage Hubs brought together young people aged 10 to 16 from Finland, Serbia, and Spain in a two-year programme to explore, present and share their own cultural heritage and interpret the heritage of other countries via exchange visits and an e-learning platform. Heritage Hubs school pilots were organised in 11 primary and secondary schools across the three countries. The pilots included training sessions for 800 teachers and heritage workshops with pupils, in which pupils first engaged with their own cultural heritage and later experienced, interpreted and presented the cultural heritage of other countries, both online and during exchange visits. In Serbia, the participating schools included the Đura Jakšić primary school from Zaječar, Ilija Garašanin primary school in Grocka and Miroslav Antić primary school in Belgrade.

The EU’s Europa Nostra Awards for Cultural Heritage were launched by the European Commission in 2002 and have since been managed by Europa Nostra with support from the European Commission’s Creative Europe programme. The awards have brought the winning countries increased international visibility, additional funding, and a higher number of visitors.