This year, over 275,000 students participated in the program worldwide, applying for over 16,000 environmental papers for their national Young Eco Reporters competitions. The winning works of our National Competition were sent to the International Competition, where out of a total of 182 entries, 4 from Bosnia and Herzegovina entered the finals. The number and quality of applications reflects the continued motivation and commitment of students around the world despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, the international expert jury met online from 15 to 17 September. The jury thoroughly evaluated each finalist and awarded prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, as well as honorary awards, based on their technical quality, level of research, originality and dissemination of information. The international jury represents expertise in a wide range of areas, and consists of professionals in environmental journalism, corporate social responsibility and education for sustainable development.

Below is a list of members of the 2020 International Jury:

Bernard Combes - UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
Anne Vela-Wagner - Mars Wrigley Foundation
Torvald Jacobsson - IIIEE (Independent Institute for Innovation, International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics), Lund University
Christopher Slaney - freelance journalist
Siiri Mäkelä - UNEP, Kenya
P.J. Marcellino - Portuguese-Canadian filmmaker and former Young Eco Reporter. Head of Development at Anatomy of Restlessness Films. Founder, Baobab Film Collective.
James O’Hagan - Reporter at Euronews Dubai
Saša Karajović - Member of the Executive Board of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) responsible for Young Eco Reporters, Montenegro
Filip Murta - Alumna of Young Eco Reporters from Portugal

We are especially pleased to announce that as many as two works from Bosnia and Herzegovina have won medals at this major international competition.

In the category of photography, student Andrea Cetina from the Gymnasium "Fr. Grga Martić" in Mostar won 1st place for her work entitled "Red Lake" near Dobro selo in B&H.

In the video category, students: Isa Nino Ćorović, Benjamin Đozić, Lejs Buljugić and Faris Muzaferija from the Elementary School "Safvet-beg Bašagić" in Sarajevo, won 3rd place for the video entitled "Air Pollution in Sarajevo".

According to members of the international jury, the works awarded this year show the great journalistic talent of students and a deep understanding of the complex environmental issues affecting their local communities. The international jury based its assessment on the students' choice of topics, their thoughts on how the topic relates to the goals of sustainable development and their overall journalistic skills. The award-winning works represent some of the highest quality environmental journalism programs in the world today.

The medals won by our students are an excellent indicator of how young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina have a developed awareness of environmental problems in their environment, are committed and engaged, and have accepted the challenge to deal with key environmental issues at the local level.

The Eco-school program and the international competition Young Eco Reporters are organized by the Incubator of social innovations "MUNJA" with the info platform Hoću.ba. Thanks to EKOPAK - the first authorized operator of packaging waste management systems and other partners such as Coca-Cola in BiH, Tretrapak and Zeos, Eco-schools started operating at the end of 2018 and today include 33 primary schools and 27 secondary schools from across the country.