Today begins the 11th year of the Talent of New Europe grant program

• The Central European Foundation and Slovnaft will also this year support talented children and youth in Slovakia with € 66,000
• Talented children and young people can apply for a grant in science, art and sports
• The novelty of this year is the inclusion of new sports popular among young people in particular
• Over the past 10 years, 322 young talents have been supported with almost € 650,000
  

BRATISLAVA, 12. September 2017– Extremely talented children and young people in science, art and sports can receive in this eleventh year financial support from the Talents of New Europe (TNE) grant program. The grants awarded by Slovnaft and the Central European Foundation (CEF) can be requested by 23 October 2017.

Expert juries will review entries of young talented musicians, actors, artists, scientists and athletes. In recent years, their members have been, for example, Michal Hudák, Peter Marcin, Ján Filc, Marián Čekovský, Peter Lipa, Lukáš Latinák, Štefan Svitko, Richard Lintner, Ilona Németh, SAV mathematician Anatoly Dvurečenskij, Linguist Lucia Molnár Satinská, physicist Martin Mojžiš, pianist Miki Škuta, Director of the Conservatory in Bratislava Peter Čerman and FTVS Lecturer Ľubor Tománek.

"I am happy to see more and more results from this project. The young people whom we have helped financially in the first years now work in interesting assignments at top world recognised universities in the USA, Germany, and the UK. Several of them then asked us for a study or internship. We have helped many of them, and today I can say that this was the best investment, " said Silvia Czuczor, CEO of the Central European Foundation.

183 talented children throughout Slovakia participated in the previous years’ grant program. The largest group of grant applicants was made up of musicians and in the sports field athletic disciplines prevailed. Two expert juries have decided that 54 talents covering the arts, science and sports will receive grants totalling 66,000 euros. The same amount is planned to be distributed by the organizers this year. Deadline for entries is October 23, 2017, and the final selection rounds are scheduled for February 2018.

"This year, we have expanded the chance to obtain a grant on some new sports that were recently included in the Olympics, such as baseball / softball, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. These are sports that do not have a very long tradition in our country, but they enjoy popularity amongst young people and we believe that our help will motivate some of them to achieve remarkable success ", adds Anton Molnár, Head of Business and Marketing Communication SLOVNAFT, a.s.

The extraordinary Slovak Alpine Skier, Klaudia Nemcová, a receiptant of the one of the previous years of the grant program, has as only a 16-year-old won this year's world championship.

One of those that were sponsored in the last year is also Kristina Ulica, a bio-medical student in London, whose grant has made her able to secure a New York placement at a top medical center, a further step in her path in neuroscience and oncology research.

For more information on Talents of New Europe, visit: www.tne.sk