WoW Awards
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WOW AWARDS 2021
On Monday, 8 March 2021, the City of Women – Association for the Promotion of Women in Culture announced the prize winners for feminist heroines – the WoW Awards!
Out of this year’s 180 nominations, the five-member committee again selected five winners! The following are the WoW Awards winners for 2021: the activist in the field of support and solidarity with refugees Zana Fabjan Blažič; the International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns – Rdeče Zore; a fighter for the rights of the erased, the unemployed, migrant workers, and refugees Aigul Hakimova; a sexologist, gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Gabrijela Simetinger, and Lezbomanija – the lesbian and LGBTQ+ radio show by Radio Študent.
The WoW Awards, in 2021 bestowed for the second time, are a response to the systematic erasure of women (we understand the term women to signify women, trans- and intersexual persons), their work and achievements from the historical canon. The awards are presented with the following motto in mind: If we want history to be written in our name, we have to write it ourselves. They are thus awarded with the purpose of highlighting and exposing the invisible work, stories, courage, and determination of individuals as well as collectives, those fighting for a better world, and feminist heroines
Last year, the winners of the WoW Award were the pioneer in the field of work with imprisoned women and active drug users Sabina Zorec; the director of the institute Pekarna Magdalenske mreže Urška Breznik; the Č I P k e Initiative for Women with a Touch for Technology, Science and Art; the No-Border Craft self-organized initiative against racism, sexism and for open borders; and the cult Radio Student feminist radio show Sektor Ž!
In recent weeks, a selection of more than 180 suggestions were received in the web campaign for nominees, which includes individuals, feminist collectives and initiatives. The five-member committee chose five winners from the diverse selection of nominees for social justice. Among the nominees, which include well-known names, are many women who have not yet been recognised for their work and efforts, while some of them frequently even work in less than tolerant conditions.
The WoW Awards will not only be bestowed in Slovenia, but also in Croatia. They are awarded within the European Women on Women project, in which together with our partners (Vox Feminae, Tiiiit Inc., Outlandish Theatre Platform) we test new models of solidarity and knowledge exchange between different communities and celebrate the achievements of women with the help of nominations, portraits, and collective staging, the mapping of places, artistic actions in public spaces, and with the formation of artistic programmes that reflect the cultural diversity and reality of contemporary societies.
More about the WoW Project >>>
WOW AWARDS 2020
First feminist awards ceremony was held as part of feminist events in March, where in addition to the WoW awards, we also presented "bodeča neža" anti-award for the most sexist statement of the last season. Out of 120 nominations, a five-member City of Women jury: Linn Julijan Koletnik, Tjaša Pureber, Tanja Rener, Samar Zughool and Tea Hvala, selected five award winners.
The City of Women jury selected the winners on the basis of their work and contribution to the community, on the basis of their courage, dedication and determination, and their socially engaged action by those individuals and collectives who structurally have less access to public space in society and therefore receive less attention (among the nominees they searched for women on the basis of self-identification, that is, trans and intersex women).
The awards went to: Sabina Zorec, a pioneer in working with female prisoners and active drug users and a founder of the first safe house for women, one with a low threshold programme – where drug abstinence is not a condition to enter the safe house, which is a first social welfare programme of the kind not only nation-wide, but also on a wider scale in Europe. Urška Breznik, the director of the institute Pekarna Magdalenske mreže. She is not only active within the institute but is also a member and president of the vegan association Za živali. Furthermore, she dedicates her energy to the strengthening of local self-government and city quarters, to the school of political literacy and similar topics. No-Border Craft, a self-organized initiative led by women who are activists, refuges and asylum seekers in Slovenia. They are fighting against racism, sexism, and for open borders. Together they are building firm social networks between migrant women and local residents in Slovenia. This is by creating an environment for active participation in the local cultural and social events, and through looking for opportunities for alternative economy by offering their handcraft products. ČIPke, Initiative for Women with a Sense for Technology, Science and Art that researches and promotes the co-operation of women in scientific and technical context and intermedia art. Their programme of practical education includes open-code programme workshops, programming, graphic design, video editing, electronics and robotics. Sektor Ž, radio show that has monthly been aired on the Radio Študent that uses the feminist aspect in addressing political initiatives from the bottom up, but also tackles official policies, social trends, theory, pedagogics and art bearing the feminist mark.
The project Women on Women presenting WoW Awards is supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Commission.
