On the occasion of the 30. An international multimedia competition for full-time secondary school and grammar school students entitled “Castles and Regions” was announced for the 30th anniversary of the Visegrad Cooperation:

Competition Objective:

To promote knowledge of the common historical destiny and mutually beneficial relations between the peoples, regions and countries along the Danube and the Vistula, as well as the participation of future generations in the cooperation between these regions and countries.

The competition is announced by:

from Hungary Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum (Hungarian National Museum) and Magyar Település- és Területfejlesztők Szövetsége (Association for the Development of Hungarian Towns and Municipalities)

from Poland Muzeum Okręgowe w Sandomierzu (District Museum in Sandomierz)

from Serbia Tvrdjava Golubacki Grad (Golubac Fortress)

from Slovakia Pro Castello Comaromiensi, n.o. (Central Fortress in Komárno)

The competition is for:

Full-time secondary school and grammar school students.

The participant can take part in the competition with an independent work.

A participant may submit a maximum of three different entries.

Requirements for the content of the thesis

A/ Geographical scope:

The work must relate to at least one of the following castles/fortresses and their associated historical and/or contemporary region (county, voivodeship, region, county, region):

– Hungary: the Castle in Esztergom or King Matthias Castle in Visegrád (together with the Castle and Solomon’s Tower)

– Poland: the Royal Castle of Sandomierz,

– Serbia: Golubac Fortress,

– Slovakia: the Central Fortress (Old and New Fortress) in Komárno

– and the historical or contemporary region associated with the selected castle/fortress, as well as the connection between the castle/fortress and Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia

B/ Required elements:

– the chosen topic of the thesis must be related to the Visegrad Four countries and Serbia;

– part of the thesis must be devoted either to the cooperation of the Visegrad Four (V4) countries or to the cooperation of the V4 countries and Serbia (V4+). This section can be an introduction, conclusion or at the core of a topic under development.

C/ The thesis can be submitted in one of the following topics:

1. Topic: DEFENDERS OF EUROPE
   1. Presentation of a historical event related to one of the castles/fortresses mentioned above, which is related to the freedom of the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, respectively. with the protection and preservation of European cultural identity.
   2. Presentation of a historical event or process, historical personality, actions of a specific group of people, which was directly related to at least two of the above-mentioned castles, respectively. with the country/region where these castles are located.
2. Theme: THE CASTLE AND ITS REGION

Presentation of the geographical and historical characteristics of the region belonging to one of the castles/fortresses and presentation of the regional economic role and tourist attractiveness of the castle/fortress from the list of castles/fortresses.

Participants will develop and submit a paper on one of the above themes and in relation to one of the selected castles or fortresses and their associated region or country. In addition to the text, the participant must also use images (still or moving) or sound recordings in his/her work.

The work must be written in English as well as in Slovak!

The work can be done as:

• maximum 5 minute video (full HD)
• text and image presentation (PowerPoint) consisting of a maximum of 18 slides

The genre/style of the work can be different (report, popular science lecture, video clip, etc.), but it must be understandable for the audience so that the selected castle/fortress, region, theme and reference can be easily identified!

Implementation of the competition:

The competition is one-round.

The implementation and evaluation of competitive works will take place at the national level.

Evaluation of works:

Those works that meet the formal and content requirements of the competition described in detail above, domestic and international ethical and other standards will be evaluated.

Accepted works will be evaluated by a jury appointed by the organization that announced the competition.

Key aspects of the evaluation of the work content:

• authenticity of processing and interesting presentation of the chosen topic;
• pointing out historical relationships and collaborations;
• the way and quality of editing and displaying information on the chosen medium.

Remuneration of competition participants:

• All evaluated works meeting the formal and content requirements will be published on the project website. Each participant whose work will be evaluated will receive a letter of thanks from the partners of the Castles & Regions project.
• The best works from each country will be presented on the media interface of the “Castles and Regions” project. The authors of these works will receive a Diploma from the partners of the Castles & Regions Project.
• The works will be evaluated by a domestic jury, and the 3 best works will be selected from all evaluable works, which will be presented on October 4, 2021 at a workshop in the Fortress in Komárno and on the project website castlesregions.eu.

Declaration of the results of the international assessment:

• The best work from each country will be presented and evaluated on November 19, 2021 at the closing ceremony of the project in Esztergom (Ostrihom). Each work will receive a diploma signed by all competition organizers and project partners.

Deadline for submission of works:

20. September 2021, 24:00 p.m.

Elaborated works must be sent electronically to the e-mail address procastello@komarno.sk together with the completed application form.

This project is financed from the program Visegrad Fund.