The Slovenian Social Responsibility Award HORUS celebrates its tenth anniversary

Maribor, Slovenia, EU: Companies, organizations and individuals were awarded with the Horus Awards for the tenth time in a row

(Maribor, December 13, 2018) This year’s awards and prizes within the project Slovenian Award for Social Responsibility HORUS 2018 were presented today at 10 am at the Hotel Draš in Maribor, Slovenia. Awards and recognitions are given by IRDO – Institute for the Development of Social Responsibility and PRSS – Slovenian Public Relations Association, in cooperation with many supporting partners of the project. With this project, the partners want to find and reward comprehensive approaches of companies and individuals to social responsibility and sustainable development. The honorary sponsor of the award is Marjan Šarec, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia.

The Horus Award is part of the national awareness strategy for more social responsibility, which is implemented in this way by numerous professional interest groups in cooperation with the Institute for the Development of Social Responsibility – IRDO and PRSS – Slovenian Public Relations Association.

The members of the evaluation committee of the Horus Award 2018 were divided into several subgroups and into two evaluation rounds. The applications were evaluated in each round by six experts, a total of twelve. The president of the Evaluation Commission was Natalie C. Postružnik, MSc.

All candidates who achieved at least 51 % of all possible points in the first round of evaluation were among the finalists of the HORUS 2018 award. There were several winners of the competition for the Slovenian Horus Award for Social Responsibility 2018 in individual categories, selected by the evaluation committee (2nd round of evaluation).

In the Horus category for strategic integrity of a legal entity, the award was given to the company Zaposlitveni center Avantus d.o.o. among small non-profit companies. In the category of small for-profit companies, the award was given to the public company Komunala Brežice d.o.o.. Other finalists in this category were Prohit d.o.o.,  Mega M d.o.o. and Zeus d.o.o ..

The award for the project in the category of small non-profit organization was received by the company Zaposlitveni center Avantus d.o.o. The finalist in this category was also the Faculty of Arts of the University of Maribor, International Center for Ecoremediation.

In the category of large non-profit organization, the award was given to the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia (Committee “Mountaineering for the Disabled / OPP”), and in the category of small profit organization to SAP d.o.o.

Marjan Videnšek from the Preporod Association and Danilo Burnač, MSC., from the public company Mariborski vodovod d.d. received general special Horus recognitions.

In the category of special recognitions – journalist, the Horus 2018 award was received by Edita Cetinski Malnar, Broadcast The Right Idea (Prava ideja), RTV Slovenia.

 To an entrepreneur with Slovenian roots who works abroad or around the world no award was given this year; Mark Pahulje from Canada received the recognition for the finalist.

Marjan Šarec, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, as the honorary sponsor of the Horus 2018 award, in his address to the Proceedings of the Horus 2018 finalists wrote:

“Ladies and gentlemen, cooperation, in the broadest sense, is of fundamental importance today, as is the cooperation between the economy and civil society. This is a step – but it must not be the only one – towards achieving social responsibility and sustainable development.

We need to put human being at the forefront. We are even obliged to do so. We must not overlook the fact that social responsibility grows out of personal responsibility. It all starts with the individual. Therefore, we should strive to create satisfied people, a society of understanding, compassion and solidarity. In order for man to become Man, and people to become People.

From here, all further paths will be easier. Interconnectedness and cooperation, respect for everyone and everyone, awareness of rights and duties and honesty will become self-evident. Good business practices, community development, care for the environment and responsibility, including management, should be the (new) rule of action. This is the only way we will want what we want: greater international recognition, reputation, motivated employees, good business partners, profits and, last but not least, greater competitiveness.

As the honorary sponsor of the Slovenian Horus 2018 Award for Social Responsibility, which has been raising awareness of the importance of our first personal and then social responsibility for ten years, I extend my sincere congratulations to all winners and recipients of special recognitions and wish them many more socially responsible successes.”

The Horus Award is given by the Institute for the Development of Social Responsibility – IRDO and PRSS – Slovenian Public Relations Association in cooperation with many partner organizations and support partners such as the American Chamber of Commerce, CNVOS – Institute for Information, Cooperation and Development of NGOs, Marketing Association of Slovenia, the Slovenian Journalists ‘Association, the Slovenian Association GC for Sustainable Development, the Slovenian Association for Quality and Excellence, the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, the Slovenian Employers’ Association, the Manager Association and others. The project is co-financed by the applicants, the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenes Abroad and the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth. The clipping partner is Press Clipping d.o.o.

The Horus Award began in 2008, when Natalie Cvikl Postružnik, MSc., at that time president of the Slovenian Public Relations Association, and Anita Hrast, MSc., manager from the IRDO Institute, found that Slovenia lacks opportunities for companies to learn about social responsibility from each other. Together with experts from both organizations, they then designed the Slovenian Horus Award for Social Responsibility, which was first awarded in 2009.

Its creation and development involved 40 professional interest organizations and media, co-financiers, 80 experts from various disciplines, more than 170 different candidates – from companies, institutions, organizations to individuals. Since the creation of the Horus Award, Marko and Marika Pogačnik have been creating unique works of art full of positive vibes, intended to promote the successful business of HORUS winners. This created a mosaic of knowledge, values ​​and cooperation, which strengthens the development of social responsibility in Slovenia.