Following the success of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) Sarajevo & East Sarajevo at the Peace and Sport Awards in 2019, 2020 has seen the Kosovo Olympic Committee (KOK) being awarded the April6 Initiative of the Year accolade after 5 days of online voting for its successful #WhiteCard campaign.

The KOK has been carrying out innovative projects to celebrate the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace for a number of years and this year has been duly rewarded for their efforts.

By launching a #WhiteCard competition for the 7th edition of April6 in 2020, athletes, fans and sports institutions were encouraged to take creative #WhiteCard photos and videos, while respecting COVID health restrictions.

Celebrating the success of the KOK initiative, President Besim Hasani was thankful to all those that took part. “Thank you very much to Peace and Sport for organising this beautiful event. I would like of course to thank all of the participants, the jury, and the public who voted for us and helped us achieve this noble prize.”

More than 5,000 people took part in the challenge and shared their creative #WhiteCard posts accompanied with messages of hope and solidarity. The general public also took part in the initiative by voting for their favourite photo or video on social networks. A great number of Kosovar people, including Olympic judo champion Majlinda Kelmendi, helped make the 2020 online celebration of April6 a great success.

This is the second Peace and Sport award for a European National Olympic Committee (ENOC) in consecutive years and shows the commitment that the ENOCs have in promoting peace through sporting initiatives.