The Children of the Earth foundation awards a prize each year to a project that promotes children's upbringing, quality of life and health. This year, the prize of NOK 150,000 goes to the organization human:kind [be both].

The organization was established in 2020 by Werner Heum and Sveinung Berntsen, and helps children in Romania with food, clothing, hygiene and schooling. The idea to establish a charity was conceived after a visit to a children's center in the Romanian town of Chiselet in 2017. The poverty among children and families made a strong impression, leaving a desire to help. Three years later, the organization human:kind [be both] was established, and now they contribute funds both to the children's center and to other humanitarian projects in Romania. 

They receive the prize of NOK 150,000 and the Child of the Earth statuette in a ceremony at Nordkapp on 5 June. - It is a great pleasure to announce that this year's award goes to human:kind [be both]. This is an organization that has already managed to make a big difference for poor children and families with children in Romania with its work. With the prize money and the positive attention they are now receiving, we hope they will have the opportunity to help far more people, says chairman Elin Ekrol in Children of the Earth. 

Ekrol is also HR director at Scandic Norge, and it is precisely Scandic Norge and Rica Eiendom that jointly run the Children of the Earth Foundation. The prize has been awarded for a number of years, and on the occasion of the awarding ceremony on the Nordkap Plateau on 5 June, two children and two managers from the children's center will also have travel and accommodation on the Nordkapp covered to participate in the ceremony and meet school children of the same age at Magerøya and the Nordkapp. 

100 percent of the funds collected go directly to help poor children and their families. They pay fees and other expenses themselves. The organization aims to make the path as short as possible from the donors to those who receive help, and is concerned with full insight and transparency in the development of the aid work. - Our aim is to help the children in Chiselet to complete their schooling, which is their only way out of poverty. 

The prize money from Children of the Earth will be of enormous help in facilitating this, says Sveinung Berntsen, head of human:kind [be both]. Around 280,000 people visit the North Cape annually. In addition to the spectacular nature experiences, visitors can view seven bronze reliefs that are placed outside the Nordkapphallen. These works of art are a starting point for the Children of the Earth project, and refer to the seven children from Tanzania, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, Italy, the USA and the then Soviet Union who met at the North Cape in 1988 and were called precisely "Children of the Earth".

Price from Nordkapp to children in Bangledesh

The Children of the Earth prize for 2022 has been awarded to the aid organization Hei Verden, which was founded in 1973 by committed school staff in Haugesund and Stavanger. For nearly 50 years, they have supported educational projects for disadvantaged children in close to 25 countries on several continents. Today, efforts are concentrated on young students in Laos, Bangladesh, Zambia and Peru. Vulnerable groups such as indigenous people, girls and children with disabilities are given special priority.

The Children of the Earth prize, which is NOK 150,000, will be presented during a ceremony on Nordkapp on 21 September, where more than 250 school children from Honningsvåg and fishing villages on Magerøya will also be present. This year's prize amount has already been allocated for projects in Bangladesh, where the covid pandemic led to closed schools for 18 months and the risk that an entire generation could lose basic education.

In reality, large parts of the world are now facing an education crisis, says communications manager Stine Årstad Jacobsen in Hei Verden. She adds that the aid organization is ideologically neutral, politically independent and has its value base rooted in the UN's children's and human rights conventions. 

Hei Verden's collects funds in Norwegian primary schools and through contributions from Norad, support members and local businesses.

Behind the award ceremony is the Children of the Earth foundation, which was established on the North Cape by the writer and journalist Simon Flem Devold from Ålesund. This year's award is the 34th in a row.