Belgrade, 13 October 2025

EU PRO Plus Art Competition for the 2026 Calendar “Create, Play, Connect the World” is open

The EU PRO Plus Programme has today published an award-winning art competition for high school pupils from 99 cities and municipalities in the regions of Šumadija and Western Serbia and Southern and Eastern Serbia on the theme “Create, Play, Connect the World”. With the support of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Serbia and the Ministry of European Integration, this competition is traditionally organised to encourage young people to be creative, engaged and active members of their communities.

This year's theme is "Create, Play, Connect the World!" focuses on sports and art, as areas that move us, teach us team spirit and inspire us to do our best. Students have the task to present through artistic expression how they see the world in which sport and art come together and how they jointly shape communities and make life more beautiful. The topic also encourages young people to think about how the European Union's support to Serbia - through investments in sports halls, playgrounds, cultural centres or through youth exchange and mobility programmes - creates space for inclusion, equality and creativity.

The high school pupils, as well as the general public, will be able to vote online, through the EU PRO Plus programme website, and thus choose 12 works from a narrow selection of the 20 best works, previously selected by the internal jury. Online voting opens after the contest closes and lasts for five days.

The audience's voice will be the fifth member of the jury who will choose the 12 best works that will be on the pages of the EU PRO Plus programme Calendar for 2025, while their authors will be awarded with laptop and tablet computers and mobile phones. Through the competition, we also invite schools to organise internal school competitions, and the school that proves to be the best in engagement and organisation will receive a laptop and a projector as a prize.

The competition is open until 14 November, 2025, and all information and propositions are available on the Programme website 2026 EU PRO Plus Calendar Art Competition.