Encouraging Latvian pupils to explore the diversity of birds in the forest, AS “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) received over 3,000 creative entries for its annual “Forest Days” sticker competition on the theme “With birds in the forest”. In the 1st to 4th grade age group, the jury selected Emīlija Beļakova as the winner, while in the 5th to 9th grade group, the winner is Laura Meikstuma. Both winners will receive a chartered bus for their entire class to attend the “Latvian Forest Days”, which will take place on 24 and 25 May at the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete, along with the exciting “Birds in Latvia” workbook and stickers featuring their own designs.

This year, the jury decided to award a special “Forest Days” sticker competition prize for the best collective entry to the 4th grade of Zemgale Primary School, in recognition of the extensive research work the pupils carried out when developing their sticker design. The winners of the special prize will also receive a chartered bus for their entire class to attend the “Latvian Forest Days”.

Certificates of appreciation and incentive prizes will also be awarded to the following entrants: Līga Zeltiņa, Rūta Sirmonte, Lelde Krista Krilova, Elizabete Ļaudanska, and Paula Pļaviņa.

In gratitude for participating in the competition, all 220 educational institutions – including general education schools, art schools, environmental education clubs, and youth interest centres – will receive incentive prizes. All participants will receive certificates.

“In many schools, this competition has become a wonderful tradition. The theme changes every year so that pupils can discover new aspects of the Latvian forest during the creative process. This year, we invited them to let their creativity take flight alongside the birds that inhabit and nest in our national forests. As a result, the sticker designs featured a particularly high number of small birds such as tits, starlings, and flycatchers, though colourful hoopoes, kingfishers, woodpeckers, owls, and, of course, eagles were also well represented. We are pleased that the project descriptions often included personal accounts of how classes had conducted joint research on different birds before drawing, later holding internal competitions to decide which pupil would represent the class or school in the main contest. We hope that the pupils will maintain this enthusiasm and curiosity in the future,” says LVM communication specialist Renāte Ribaka.

The competition winners will be honoured on the main stage of the “Latvian Forest Days” on 24 May at the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete. This year, the event will pay special attention to climate issues, bringing together various forest and nature-related organisations and encouraging guests to visit a wide range of forest discovery stations, as well as take part in educational activities with forest gnomes, Cūkmens, and forestry professionals. Find out more about the event on the website www.latvijasmezadienas.lv.