New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Regaining a sense of belonging

Email user
katilovic.marija@gmail.com

Basic information
Initiative title
Culturally-gastronomical project

Full initiative Title
Sofia's hearts

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
Culinary students at Vocational school in Đakovo (Croatia) made pralines named Sophia's hearts. The idea was inspired by the story of bishop Mandić and his relationship with Jakob Haibel who was actually Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's brother-in-law and a prominent musician. He was invited to the Đakovo Cathedral for that particular reason. At that point, Jakob and Sophia got an opportunity for their romance. Their love story was an inspiration for our school's project Sophia's hearts.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Regional

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Croatia

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly urban

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As a representative of an organisation
Please provide the contact details for the project promoter (the individual or representative of the organisation authorised to represent the project)
- Name of the organisation(s): Srednja strukovna škola Antuna Horvata Đakovo
  Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local)
  First name of representative: Mirko
  Last name of representative: Ćurić
  Gender: Male
  Nationality: Croatia
  Function: The principal
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Vijenac kardinala Alojzija Stepinca 11
  Town: Đakovo
  Postal code: 31400
  Country: Croatia
  Direct Tel: +385 91 181 4944
  E-mail: mirko.curic@skole.hr
  Website: http://www.strukovna.com
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
- URL: http://m.facebook.com/100057613421127/
In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
Representatives of the Osječko-baranjska county informed our school.

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
The idea of the initiative occurred during our visit to W.A.Mozart's house in Vienna. We had been already familiar with the existence of Mozartkugeln as well as with the romance of remarkable Jakob and Sofia Haibel, who used to live in Đakovo, but most of the citizens don't know enough about them. A few years ago, our students produced Haibel's pralines according to our own recipe.Consequently, we came up with the idea to make chocolate pralines, which are going to tell Sofia Haibel's story. A group of culinary teachers attended Chocolate Academy in order to acquire skills needed to make pralines. The whole process has led to cooperation between students and teachers culminating in a brand new product.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
A product made by students

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Đakovo

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Sofija Haibel

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
A romance

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Chocolate

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
After elaborating the idea itself, we had to think about the packaging for pralines. We wished for "our " Sofia to get deserved attention. Unfortunately, there are no preserved drawings of her. Accordingly, we've imagined Sofia's looks and asked our art teacher to try to depict her. We aim for the packaging to represent past times spirit , yet to become recognizable, too. We use cardboard and paper because they're recycable. The box with photo of two chocolate hearts on it symbolises love and positive emotions. The box contains both Croatian and German texts due to Sofia's origin - in this way the story provides international features. Chocolate hearts are completely handmade by students themselves, which makes the whole project even more notable.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Through our research, knowledge and concepts, we would like to enrich certain skills and to encourage our students, fellow citizens, people in the region and beyond to get acquainted with the unknown history, which has the major role in preserving intangible heritage in an inspiring way, thanks to our chocolate product and the brochure, that accompanies each "Sofia's hearts" box. The main goal is for our future culinary and confectionary students to become competent in producing Sofia's hearts. Besides, they should be informed about eminent people who have influenced cultural life in their hometown and its surroundings.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Colleagues of different professions have been involved in this project. However, the central role have played our students. Starting from our own ideas, technicalities have included experts from numerous fields. First we had to learn how to make chocolate hearts, then there was cooperation related to design of the packaging and , finally, we had to cope with translating the text into the special style of so called "women's writing". Eventually, the school got an opportunity to present its product to the public and the Tourist Board in Đakovo. Other occasions included gastronomical fairs. The Tourist Board in Đakovo regularly supports school's manifestations and enables others to see and taste our products. Through such activities, we get the feedback on our efforts. Students demonstrate their abilities and improve their skills. They also organise workshops on making pralines and thus involve into the project pupils from other schools in town.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
Our students organise free workshops for interested citizens, who get more information about the background story of the school's product. We try to raise cultural awareness in our town and region. This initiative could be a starting point for developing a new tourist brand as a part of the future tourist offer in Đakovo . Moreover, we tend to prove the quality of culinary and catering education but also our presence at local community .

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The school relies greatly on stakeholders of our community. Vital support is offered by Croatian Writers Society - the branch representing Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem - whose author has written about Jakob and Sofia Haibel and introduced us to their lives and work. In the Archdiocese Đakovo-Osijek we obtained crucial letter as the only written trace about Sofia Haibel which serves as the authentic testimony about Mozart's death (Sofia was Mozart's wife's sister). Regional Centre of Competence sponsored educations for our teachers at Chocolate Academy , together with equipment purchase for the first editions of Sofia's hearts.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The initiative has been successfully performed owing to cooperative historians and writers together with interpreting maestro Ivan Andrić's deeds. We have interacted on joint meetings and at "Jakob Haibel" project. Within those meetings, a lot of lectures and workshops on the topic of Jakob and Sofia Haibel were held, Haibel's compositions were performed, and a documentary about Sofia and Jakob Haibel was presented. Lastly, an agreement about future cooperation with mentioned stakeholders was reached.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Thanks to our previous experiences with less demanding products, we have completed a brand new one. The initiative shows advancement considering creativity, ideas, complexity of production. Finally, we are ready to place our product on the market. According to assigned tasks, students have been progressing from simpler to more sophisticated steps, both theoretically and practically.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
Our example can contribute as an adequate and innovative teaching technique. This project has taught our students not only how to produce, but which materials, equipment, groceries, methods and technology to use, when preparing chocolate. At the same time, they gained understanding of certain historical periods, outstanding former Đakovo residents and significant landmarks.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
The whole project started with participating on special workshops at Chocolate Academy in Belgrade, where both culinary teachers and students took part and came up with the recipe for heart-shaped pralines. Initially, there were two fillings - fruit and hazelnut filling. Each box contains a harmonious combination of particular aromas unified by a symbolic shape. Students and their mentors use only first-class ingredients. Chocolate hearts' basis includes cocoa butter and cocoa paste, sugar, emulsifying agent and a bit of natural vanilla. Fruit filling contains cherries pulp, sugar, pectin, glucose, potassium sorbate, tricalcium, while in hazelnut filling one can find only organically produced hazelnuts. Precise product composition is available on labels of each box.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
In this project , we have taken into account the fact that we should use only resources that can be found in our surrroundings. Our intention is to promote ecological values and local producers. The school owns an agricultural land - the estate of 44 acres - which engages in registered ecological production. Among other cultures, there are hazel orchards, whose nuts are, partly, used in Sofia's hearts' production. We buy the rest from a local organic grower. Additionally, the school has been, for many years, a part of the Eco-Schools global programme, which implies organic production, promoting ecology through ecological values related to healthy diet and environmental protection as means to a better future. Our motto is: "Think globally, act locally".

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
The first presenting of the initiative was in Salzburg in 2022, followed by one in Budapest that same year. Next, there's the partnership on numerous evenst with Đakovo Tourist Board . Students hold workshops on making chocolate pralines. On the part of promoting our initiative, we distribute brochures with the story about Sofia Haibel along with the recipe for chocolate pralines. For advertising purposes, there is also a banner for "Sofia's hearts". So far, we have prepared some canvas bags and T-shirts portraying Sofia Haibel. We target at placing our product into the regular tourist offer of our town and county. It is necessary to emphasize the fact that in 2022 our county was visited by 40% more tourists than the year before. Taking into consideration that Đakovo is a town with remarkable sights and people, namely, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Đakovo Cathedral, Lipizzaner horses, and more, it is a logical step further for our school to try to implement "Sofia's hearts" into the present tourist offer.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
Web link
Web link
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
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Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
- izvještaj.docx
- izvještaj2.docx
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes