The 2nd edition of the Ana Maria Vieira de Almeida Award Ceremony took place on 2 June.

This award, established by the Vasco Vieira de Almeida Foundation with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, is held every two years and aims to celebrate the memory of Ana Maria Vieira de Almeida, recognising scientific work and research that promotes innovative models in the areas of Early Childhood, Pre-Primary and Primary Education.

In this edition, the winning work, worth twenty thousand euros, was «Reflexões sobre o ensino da Botânica no Ensino Básico com base no Projeto Emc2 “Explorar Matos de Camarinha da Costa”» (Reflections on the teaching of botany in primary education based on the Emc2 project «Exploring the scrubland of Camarinha da Costa»), by Maria Alexandra Abreu Lima. The winning project is available for consultation here.

The members of the jury were: Vasco Vieira de Almeida (Founding Partner of Vieira de Almeida), Ana Maria Bettencourt (Advisor to the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic for Education (1996-2006), President of the National Education Council (2009-2013)), Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins (Former Minister of Education, Administrator of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), Isabel Alçada (former Minister of Education, Advisor to the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic for Education) and Maria Emília Brederode Santos (President of the Institute for Educational Innovation of the Ministry of Education (1997-2002), President of the National Council of Education (2017-2022)), also awarded Honourable Mentions to two works: Inclusion of Children with Cerebral Palsy in Specialised Music Education: from Research to Action, by Davys Enrique Espíndola Moreno; and Articulation of Educational Practices in Outdoor, Nature and Indoor Contexts in Early Childhood Education: Innovate and Train, by Raquel Vanessa Horta Ramos.

The opening of applications for the next edition of the Award will be announced shortly on the Vasco Vieira de Almeida Foundation's channels.

The Ana Maria Vieira de Almeida Award given to the book I wrote, “Reflexões sobre o ensino da Botânica no Ensino Básico com base no Projeto Emc² 'Explorar Matos de Camarinha da Costa”“ (Reflections on teaching botany in primary education based on the Emc2 project 'Exploring the scrubland of Camarinha da Costa”) is recognition of the value of the Emc2 (MARE-ARNET) project methodology and comes with an added responsibility to continue its activities with motivation and to promote more educational initiatives based on a connection with nature. This creates a sense of place and emotional involvement in students, which are an essential part of meaningful learning in childhood. In the current context, where there are growing trends of 'young people's disengagement from nature' and “decline in botany teaching”, this award, which keeps alive the legacy of educator Ana Maria Vieira de Almeida, in which education is “the most lasting, strongest and most determined way to change societies”, is an incentive to transform plant teaching in primary education. We must be able to awaken in young people a passion for natural values, so that they can better understand and protect them, enabling them to act in favour of biodiversity, in the midst of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030). - M. Alexandra Viegas Abreu Lima, Researcher at MARE-ARNET and INIAV, I.P.