What is the Enlightener Award?
The Enlightener is a Serbian teacher award. It was created in 2024 on the initiative of prof. Dr. Aleksandar Kavcic who decided to gather a team of educational experts and together with them designed this prestigious award for exceptional kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers of the Republic of Serbia.
Who gives the award?
The organizer of this project is the Alek Kavčić Foundation, which with this award wants to honor and recognize the exceptional teachers of the Republic of Serbia.
What does the award represent?
The Serbian Teacher Award Enlightener represents the highest form of recognition and is a unique symbol of excellence in Serbian education. This award recognizes pre-university teachers and their individual efforts and dedication to the profession.
What is the symbol of the award?
The symbol of the award is the figure of a teacher woven from stars, from whose palm they emerge one by one, as symbols of children and students who, during schooling, are empowered to find their place in society. Through the symbol of this award, we highlight the teaching profession and its importance for the future of Serbia.
Vision
Serbia where those who educate are at the top of the social ladder.
Mission
By valuing and affirming teaching excellence, we are changing the status of the teaching profession in the Republic of Serbia.
Goal
Awakening the awareness of the wider social community about the importance of the teaching profession and its immeasurable impact on the development and progress of Serbia.
Our Team
Jelena Lukic
Jelena's life and career path is exciting and, one might say, very unpredictable - from her childhood in the Banat plain and the multicultural colorfulness of Kovacica, and her international career in different cities of the world, through her teaching work in the Arilje region, and back to where it all started. - in Kovacica.
Jelena’s educational philosophy:
Working at the school, Jelena combines and applies everything she has learned through her various life and professional experiences, making the teaching of the Serbian language alive, imaginative and creative, engaging her students in a wide variety of projects and manifestations and always looking for new ways to inspire and ignite them. their love for knowledge, culture and art.
Aleksandar Baucal
He is a full professor of developmental and educational psychology at the University of Belgrade and a member of the International Academy of Education. He advocates for improving the quality of education. He believes that such change can be created by teachers and schools with adequate empowerment and support provided by decision makers and experts from the research community.
Aleksandar's educational philosophy:
Despite the fact that the general situation in education in Serbia is unsatisfactory, despite the fact that the status of education is very low and regardless of the fact that the teaching profession is not valued in society, there are teachers and schools that, due to various circumstances, managed to create quality education for their students. That is why it is important that good examples become more visible and are promoted. They provide a roadmap and should be an important support in creating a better education system.
Karim Salim
Of the numerous award-winning projects he created in the field of design and advertising, one of his favorite is the "Free Library" of the Alek Kavčić Foundation, which was declared the best Serbian website in 2021 in the field of education and culture. For more than 20 years, he worked as an art and creative director in international advertising agencies, and now heads his own creative studio. Graduate of the Mathematics High School and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. The creator of the visual identity of the award and the creator of the Prasvetelj website.
Karim's work philosophy:
Merging the analogue and the digital world, the left and the right hemisphere, day and night, east and west. Openness to challenges. Constant learning and research as a way to keep up with a rapidly evolving profession.
Sofija Kavčić
Sofija is an architect. Among all the architectural projects that Sofija worked on, her most favorite one is the Kona Judiciary Complex, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The complex has three circuit courtrooms, two district courtrooms, two family courtrooms including judge’s chambers. Life on two continents enabled her to experience working in various surroundings. She obtained the architectural licenses in the US and in Serbia. Sofija holds the Doctoral degree in architecture from the University of Hawaii, at Manoa, and the engineering degree from the University of Belgrade, School of Architecture. One of her most cherished accomplishments is winning the second place in the International Council for Caring Communities, an award presented at United Nations’ headquarters in New York City.
Sofia's work ethic:
Sofija is a team player. She holds teamwork as the most important element of any project. Sofija likes challenges and acknowledges that facing challenges is a prerequisite for further professional improvement and development. In her opinion there is always room for professional growth and strives to create a work environment conducive to growth.