Bucharest, 15 June 2020: Edmond Niculușcă is the winner of the 12,000 euro grand prize granted by the Alexandrion Foundation at the Matei Brâncoveanu Awards Gala 2020, with the highest number of votes from the public – 16,885 votes. The next finalists in the public’s online vote, Raluca Selejan, Carmen Chindriș, Tudor Baciu and Ana Maria Ciobanu, were each awarded 1,500 euro by the Alexandrion Foundation.
More than 10,000 people watched this year’s edition of the Matei Brâncoveanu Awards Gala organised by the Alexandrion Foundation, which took place online on Sunday, 14 June. The public had 24 days to vote for their favourite finalist on the www.fundatia-alexandrion.ro platform, and the voting system closed during the gala itself. During the voting campaign, which began on 21 May, the ranking changed several times, heightening the adrenaline and emotions of the finalists and their supporters, but in the end Edmond Niculușcă took the lead.
The 12,000 euro grand prize granted by the Alexandrion Foundation will allow Edmond Niculușcă to invest in the Antiseismic District project, the first project in Romania to prepare the community of an entire vulnerable district for a major earthquake. Launched by ARCEN (the Romanian Association for Culture, Education and Normality) a year ago, the project has already reached 6,000 residents of the District 40 neighbourhood, and now, with the help of the prize won by Edmond, it can be expanded.
Edmond Niculușcă, director of ARCEN and winner of the grand prize of the Matei Brâncoveanu Gala 2020:
“I am very moved, I am very happy, I am very excited, I am very grateful. This is a prize for the future of Bucharest. I fought enormously, together with my friends, my colleagues, the ARCEN team and ARCEN’s partners, to win this prize, because it is for a project that can save lives. Through Antiseismic District we will prepare more than 20,000 people in central Bucharest for the next major earthquake. And I think the stakes were enormous; I never thought we could mobilise so many people, and this gives us extraordinary validation – to be supported by more than 15,000 people for the project we have been running for a year, and for the ARCEN project that has been going for 11 years, is extraordinary and a sign of tremendous recognition for us.”
Nawaf Salameh, President of the Alexandrion Foundation: “The Matei Brâncoveanu Gala 2020 was a success, and I am very glad that the new format, adapted to the times we are going through, gave us the opportunity to have such a large audience with us, watching the gala online. It was extraordinary to be able to bring before everyone the projects and stories of five young people whose work is very important for society and for the future of this country. Congratulations to Edmond Niculușcă; I hope this prize will help you take your project to the next level and help as many people as possible in your community! Congratulations also to the other four finalists, who fought to get here and who are, equally, winners, through the good they do for those around them and through their work.”
The Matei Brâncoveanu Awards Gala 2020 can be rewatched on the Alexandrion Foundation’s Facebook page. The event was hosted by the young actor Pavel Ulici, known for his roles in Romanian and international productions, while Doru Trăscău and Andrei Zamfir of The Mono Jacks performed the band’s much-loved songs live in an acoustic format.
More information about the Matei Brâncoveanu Awards Gala 2020 is available at www.fundatia-alexandrion.ro.
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