The Religious Heritage Innovator of the Year aims to celebrate and promote excellence in the field of religious heritage by recognising projects that contribute significantly to the safeguarding, enhancement and/or promotion of Europe’s places of worship.
The award was launched by FRH in 2022 according to the values of inclusion, sustainability, resilience, innovation and cooperation, in line with the pillars of the European Commission’s Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage.
The 2023 edition is open for applications from 28 June to 30 November. The award will have an overall winner and four finalists whose projects will be widely promoted by FRH as examples of best practices and presented at the 2024 FRH Conference.
Key dates
Submissions: from 28 June to 30 November 2023
Jury’s meeting: first week of December 2023
Announcement of the winner and finalists: second week of December 2023
Awards ceremony: 2024 FRH Conference (location and date to be confirmed)
Who can apply
The competition is open to European organisations, public administrations, universities, cultural heritage professionals, academics and researchers, students and representatives of European civil society with a project related to the safeguarding, enhancing and/or promotion of religious heritage
Eligibility criteria
Participating projects may be ongoing or completed. The jury will consider the following aspects:
1) Innovation
What makes the project innovative? Is it a new idea or a significant improvement of existing elements? Does it use cutting-edge technology? Does it propose a new way of carrying out the work? Does it provide a new vision of a certain topic?
2) Sustainability
How does the project contribute to sustainability?
3) Contribution to society
How does the project benefit local communities, the town or region, European citizens and society in general?
4) Project scope
What is the impact of the project on the local, national and international levels? Has it actively involved other actors or stakeholders? Will it have a long-term impact?
Submissions
Entries must be submitted via the form on the competition website between 28 June and 30 November: https://www.frh-europe.org/religious-heritage-innovator-of-the-year/. Candidates will be asked to provide the following information:
a) Name of the project/initiative
b) Description of project/initiative (short form, annexes allowed)
c) Status of project/ initiative (finished or ongoing)
d) Why is this project/ initiative innovative?
e) Website and social media (if applicable)
f) Photographs (if relevant)
g) Annexes (if relevant)
h) Name of the managing organisation
i) Name of representative and contact information
Evaluation and selection
A jury composed of highly qualified experts and FRH representatives will select the five best projects from among all those submitted. From these five, one project will be chosen as the overall winner and the other four will be finalists. The jury is expected to meet in the first week of December to evaluate all submissions. The jury’s decision will be communicated to all participants shortly after its deliberation. The projects of the winner and the finalists will be included in a special publication by FRH and promoted throughout Europe as examples of best practices.
Awards ceremony
The awards ceremony will take place at the 2024 FRH Conference (location and date to be confirmed). The winner will be invited to take part in the Conference with all costs covered up to a maximum of 1000€. Finalists are welcome to participate in the conference at their own cost.