Here are the winners of the Nordic Pioneer Prize 2022
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Udgivet: 26 Sep - 2022
A social critic and artist advocating for more equality for all, a media entrepreneur bringing forward the voices of youth, an ‘intersectional feminist’ with strong debating skills and a ‘local hero’ who mobilizes youth – these are the winners of this year’s Nordic Pioneer Prize.
The future belongs to the youth – but so does the present. These young winners are a standing example of how a new generation of youth are doing that extra effort to make our local societies a place with less discrimination, less polarization, less hate, and in return with more equality, inclusiveness, and inclusion.
These young people are now given the attention they rightly deserve.
The winners of the Nordic Pioneer Prize are:
- Luqman Wadood, 20, Founder of the debate site ‘Jeune.no’, Stavanger, Norway
- Nadeen Aiche, 21, Chairwoman of the Board of Mino Danmark, Denmark
- Abbe Ali, 20, Founder of a local group of Save the Children Youth organisation and ‘Bollnäs Evenemang’, Bollnäs, Sweden
- Riina Tanskanen, 24, comic artist, social critic and feministic activist, Tampere, Finland
The four winners represent a variety of causes that are important to youth all over the Nordic countries.
“This year’s winners have demonstrated an inspirational devotion and dedication to improving society, which shines through in their various engagements,” says Sebastian Jørgensen, project manager at Nordic Safe Cities.
“Youth plays such an important part in the cohesion of the Nordic countries. We believe youth in general, not only these incredible pioneers, need to have their voice heard to a much larger degree. It is our aim with the Nordic Pioneer Prize to help youth get their inspirational ideas and projects sharpened, and hopefully evolve to a degree which will make them applicable to every Nordic country.”
A network of changemakers
Nordic Pioneer Prize was established by the Non-Profit Organization Nordic Safe Cities in 2021.
It is both a youth initiative and a changemaker network which celebrates social entrepreneurs and at the same time seek to inspire youth across the Nordic Countries to make their local community safer, more equal, and more democratic.
The prize is given to Nordic Youth no older than 25 years of age and the winners are awarded 25.000 DKK each.
The Prize Ceremony takes place at the Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen on the 29th of September. The Norwegian Embassy will host the event.
“We are immensely proud to host this years Nordic Pioneer Prize. All the Nordic countries aim to have societies that are inclusive and with equal opportunities for all. Youth play an important role in this regard through their energy and innovation. The Nordic Pioneer Prize showcases some amazing examples of young talent that help our societies to become even more equal, inclusive and democratic,” says the Norwegian Ambassador in Copenhagen, Katja Nordgaard.
Media Contact
The press is welcome to attend the prize ceremony. It takes place at Odd Fellow Palace, Bredgade 28, 1260 Copenhagen from 16.00-17.30. Attending media will be able to conduct interviews with the winners from 15.30.
Contact Johan Saugbjerg Haarløv, Communications Manager at Nordic Safe Cities to get accreditation to the prize ceremony and to coordinate interviews with the winners.
johan@nordicsafecities.org or tel. nr: +45 61 66 58 98
Below the winners and their projects are described in detail:
Luqman Wadood, 20, Founder of the debate site ‘Jeune’, Stavanger, Norway
Youth demands a voice in both politics and in society in general that most people won’t give them. 20 year old Luqman Wadood from Stavanger is not one of those people.
With an ambition to establish a playing field for youth in Norway to both agree and disagree on Luqman Wadood a few years back created the debate site ‘Jeune.no’. It’s a website that gives youth space to express their honest opinion trough editorials.
Luqman Wadood has from day one insisted on ‘Jeune.no’ being politically neutral working within the framework of Norsk Redaktørforening, which shows in the variety of themes and opinions the editorials on the site express. Up until today Jeune.no has published more than 400 editorials, several of which has been picked up by large news outlets such as VG.no and TV2.no who on more than one occasion have republished stories that had they outset on Jeune.no
Nadeen Aiche, 21, Chairwoman of the Board of Mino Danmark, Denmark
Nadeen Aiche uses her platform as chairwoman of the Board of Mino Danmark – an organization which especially engages Danes with minority background who aim to enhance the national and local cohesion in Denmark – to promote the fight against sexism and racism, and not least the structural overlaps between the two negative aforementioned concepts which has made her identify herself as an ‘intersectional feminist’.
That has not only made her an important voice in the intersectional debate with regular appearances on some of the biggest debate programs in danish television and her own column in
Dagbladet Information, it has also made the Ministry of Gender Equality invite Nadeen Aiche to give recommendations on how to create more gender equality in Denmark.
Abbe Ali, 20, Founder of Save the Children’s local association, Bollnäs, Sweden
He’s only 20 years old, but Abbe Ali has already become somewhat of a mythical figure in the city of Bollnäs, and deservedly so.
Since the age of 14 he’s been strongly engaged in promoting new and better meeting places for young people creating ‘Bollnäss Evenemang’, an inclusive space for children where they can meet and do a long list of things like produce music, they can dance, or they can even coordinate their influence towards local politicians which some have done.
He has also arranged reoccurring local events such as football tournaments and music concerts that have gained widespread attention in his local area. He has also founded a local group of Save the Children Youth organisation in Bollnäs which he is the chairman of.
Through his projects, Abbe hope to strengthen youths’ ability to be a part of, and contribute to, society. Outside his voluntary engagement, Abbe work as a youth recreation leader.
Riina Tanskanen, 24, comic artist, social critic and feministic activist, Tampere, Finland
Back in 2020 Riina became so fed up with the gender inequality, especially centered around misogyny and sexual harassment of women, in Finland that she created the instagram account called Tympeät tytöt which translates to ‘grumpy girls’.
She started sharing drawings which exemplified the misogyny she – and, as it turned out, a lot of other women shared – experienced in her everyday life. Her drawings and the mini essays that captioned the drawings immediately resonated with a huge number of Finns, to the extent that her Instagram account two years later now has more than 50.000 followers. What started out as a project for herself has become one of the most sought out platforms in Finland for progressive thinking in terms of changing a collective mindset and promoting feminist activism.
Having realized how much her thoughts and drawings resonated with the Finnish people, Rinna Tanskanen expanded her creative process to also include comic books which not only convey feministic views on society of today but make a point of showcasing how, from Riina Tanskanen’s perspective, capitalistic structures affect society in a negative way.