Port of Genoa wins ESPO Award

Last night, Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas handed out the fourth ESPO Award on Societal Integration to the Port of Genoa for its project ‘Citizens of the Port – Knowing and Living the Port of Genoa’.
This year’s edition of the ESPO Award had ‘youth’ as a theme. The Port of Genoa presented, in the opinion of the Jury, the most convincing project for engaging with young people. The Jury was especially impressed by the comprehensive nature of the project and the number of highly innovative and interactive components it contained, which encourage young people to be curious and inquisitive about the port’s activities in a very creative way.
In his word of thanks, Port of Genoa Secretary General Giambattista D'Aste said: “We are very honoured with this European recognition for our work and we would very much like to invite our colleague port authorities to Genoa to share experiences.” With that invitation, Mr D’Aste responded to the suggestion of the Chairman of the Jury, John Richardson, for the award winner to organise, with the help of ESPO, a day’s workshop to present its programme, explain why it has been a success, and show its results. Mr Richardson also invited ESPO to do something around children’s art: “Over four years now, we have noticed how often schoolchildren have produced paintings or drawings after visiting their port, and how often the ports have chosen the best among these to mount an exhibition or produce a brochure. We would encourage ESPO to examine whether something similar could be done at the European level.”
As every year, the Award ceremony was held in the Town Hall of Brussels. The event was followed by a walking dinner at the Hotel Amigo, which was attended by more than 200 representatives from the European port and transport sector and EU institutions. The theme for next year’s competition is ‘heritage’ and focuses on contemporary use and disclosure of port heritage. The competition will open on 15 January and run until 15 July. Details on application and selection criteria as well as application forms will be available from the ESPO website as from the day the calls open.