Prize for an educational project that has trained 250,000 students in responsible water consumption

Aqualia's Digital Children's Contest has been recognised as "Best Integral Communication Strategy" at the XII Edition of the Corresponsables Iberoamerica 2021 Awards.  Juan Royo, from CulturaRSC.com, presented the award to Juan Pablo Merino, Aqualia's Director of Communication and CSR, who collected the award at a ceremony held this morning at the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy. The educational initiative, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, has already trained more than 250,000 students from different generations in the responsible use of water. This edition alone has involved more than 7,000 hours of digital training. 

Aqualia's contest is, today, a benchmark in education in values and its success is undoubtedly due to the effort and commitment shared with the hundreds of schools, teachers, and municipal corporations that, over all these years, have not hesitated to accompany Aqualia in this project. 
More than 20 years ago, when the sustainability of water resources was beginning to be discussed, Aqualia set itself the challenge of implementing actions that would highlight the educational role that it could play as a water management company. This led to the Children's Drawing Contest, which not only focuses on aspects related to water management, but also seeks to raise awareness about conscious consumption: how our daily decisions and habits influence the evolution of the environmental problems that we face and have socio-economic repercussions for everyone.

Education, key to improving quality of life and sustainable development 
UNESCO points out that "education on sustainable development has a transformative potential that should prepare students of all ages to find solutions to the challenges of today and tomorrow". In this sense, Aqualia is working to make society more sensitive and aware of what is necessary for water to reach homes and why we should consume it responsibly. All this bearing in mind that what is learned and internalised as a child is not forgotten. 

In this educational dynamic, Aqualia's Children's Drawing Contest is a key element in disseminating the messages. This educational and informative vocation is also reflected in the educational classroom www.aqualiaeduca.com, the first online educational channel of its kind in the sector; the development of open days in which more than 15,000 schoolchildren have participated every year until the outbreak of the pandemic; and the support for the training and professional qualification of young people.

From paper to digital training
The Children's Drawing Contest, which began on paper and progressed to digital format, has always been developed under themes related to the phases of the end-to-end water cycle. In addition, each edition has been presented using characters and environments close to the children, so that, in a playful way, they could take on this knowledge.  

Over time, and thanks to new technologies, the leap to digital publishing was made, maintaining the excellent collaboration with teachers and educational centres. Furthermore, with the commitment to prepare new generations for the upcoming challenge of the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in recent years emphasis has been placed on this topic, especially on SDG6, "Clean water and sanitation", and the website www.aqualiayods6.com. The aim is to educate and involve children in the world of the SDGs in a fun way through two characters, "Aqual" and "SDG6", the protagonists of the contest. They tell the story of the SDGs in a different way than ever before for children. 

In short, the Digital Children's Drawing Contest is more than just a competition. It is a consolidated project that has already succeeded in educating several generations on the importance of efficient water management and the work behind turning on the tap and having quality drinking water