Winner 2024
At each annual Nordic conference, the Nordic World Heritage Prize;”The Rauma Award”, is also awarded out to a organizations or Nordic World Heritage Site stakeholder who has excelled in community involvement and participation.
This year the Rauma award was handed over to The Ehrensvärd Society, which has been working in the Suomenlinna World Heritage Site in Finland for 25 years with the Suomenlinna Adventure Tour for Children with the motivation:
The Ehrensvärd Society was founded in 1921 and is a key stakeholder in interpreting the Outstanding Universal Value of the Suomenlinna fortress with the management authorities and has had a long standing commitment to inform the public about the Suomenlinna fortress and its history. The Ehrensvärd Society has provided the Adventure tours for Children for 25 years at the fortress where the OUV is explained for various age groups with learning by doing method. The mix of theater professionals, historians, and service providers along with the drama and costumes makes for a unique way of interpreting the OUV of the Suomenlinna fortress. Over the last 25 years more than 170,000 school children have participated in the long-standing cooperation and they also provide the tours free of charge for the local schools and kindergarten. The Ehrensvärd Society finances its activities by running different commercial services and provides visitor services to the public all year round.
In the very nice atmosphere of the farmhouse-restaurant Maatilamatkailu Kumpunen in central Finland the Rauma Award were accepted.
In the image we can see
Carita Wilenius-Rantala, CEO of the Ehrensvärd Society (to the right), accepting the award from Einar Á.E. Sæmundsen (to the left), chairperson of the Nordic World Heritage Association.