Projects of the children and youth representatives
Current projects
The city of Chemnitz is awarding a city-wide student representative prize for the first time in 2026. The award was initiated by the Equal Opportunities Officer Franziska Herold and the Children and Youth Officer Dina Norberger.
Under the motto "Get involved!", pupils who are particularly committed to respectful, inclusive and equal cooperation at their schools as pupil or class representatives are honoured.
The aim of the award is to make the commitment of young people visible and to honour it. At the same time, the award is intended to encourage pupils to take on responsibility and get actively involved - even beyond their school years, for example in politics, business or civil society.
How are nominations made and who can be nominated?
- Pupil or class representatives from all Chemnitz schools (from Year 1)
- Nomination by the schools
- Up to two nominations per school
- Public and public schools
Categories:
Primary school | secondary school | special school | grammar school (incl. vocational grammar schools)
The selection is made by a jury. The prize will be awarded by Mayor Ralph Burghart. The winners will receive certificates and attractive prizes.
Application deadline: until 15 April 2026
Contact: gleichstellungsstelle(at)stadt-chemnitz.de | Tel. 0371 / 488 5105
In August, a city-wide painting competition was launched to which the Children and Youth Officer invited all primary schools and after-school centres in the city of Chemnitz. The competition is aimed at children in grades 1 to 4. The closing date for entries is 31 October.
The aim of the drawing competition is to encourage children to think about their rights and creatively express what is important to them. After all, children have rights, but many children do not know exactly what rights they have or how they can stand up for them.
The result will be a children's rights brochure in which the ten most important children's rights will be presented with the pictures from the competition.
The top three organisations will each receive prize money: 1st place - 300 euros, 2nd place - 200 euros and 3rd place - 100 euros. Furthermore, all participating organisations that are not among the top three will receive consolation prizes.
The jury is made up of sponsors, the Children and Youth Commissioner and representatives of the City of Chemnitz. After the closing date on 31 October, they will evaluate all submitted pictures.
Conditions of participation:
All children in grades 1 to 4 who attend a Chemnitz primary school or after-school care centre are eligible to take part in the competition.
Together with the children, each participating organisation selects five children's rights that are particularly important to them. The children (individually or in groups) draw a picture that shows how they understand children's rights. Important: The picture should have a connection to the city of Chemnitz , e.g. through places, experiences or wishes that have to do with the city of Chemnitz.
The pictures can be submitted by post in DIN A4 format (portrait or landscape). The technique used is freely selectable, whether coloured pencil, felt-tip pen, watercolour, collage, etc., everything is allowed. The age, class and name of the organisation as well as an optional short explanation of the picture must be noted on the back.
Submission address:
Children and Youth Officer of the City of Chemnitz
Dina Norberger
Bahnhofstraße 53
09111 Chemnitz
Please note:
By participating, parents or legal guardians agree that the pictures may be used in the context of the Children's Rights brochure, exhibitions or public relations work of the City of Chemnitz (non-commercial).
At the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year, Dina Norberger, the Children and Youth Officer, called on all children attending a primary school or after-school care centre in Chemnitz to take part in a city-wide drawing competition on the topic of children's rights. The aim was to create a brochure from the entries in which the ten most important children's rights would be presented using pictures drawn by children.
By the closing date of 31 October 2025, a total of twelve schools and after-school care centres had responded to the call. The children creatively explored their rights in the drawing competition and worked out what is important to them. This resulted in beautiful, exciting and surprising works, which were assessed by a jury according to various criteria: recognisable children's rights, implementation, relevance to Chemnitz and suitability for the brochure. The children were free to choose which rights they wanted to focus on. The Chemnitz pupils were also very keen on the right to a clean environment, which is generally not counted among the ten most important children's rights. It is therefore included in the brochure as the eleventh children's right.
Thanks to the sponsors GGG, Sparkasse Chemnitz and Volksbank Chemnitz eG, the three winning organisations received attractive prize money, which they can use to realise the children's wishes and projects:
1st place: 300 euros for the "Am Stadtpark" primary school
2nd place: 200 euros for the Reichenbrand after-school care centre
3rd place: 100 euros for Rabenstein primary school - "Hans Carl von Carlowitz"
Children have rights and they apply everywhere: at home, at school, in after-school care, on the playground or out and about in the city. But many children don't realise exactly what rights they have and how they can stand up for them. The colouring competition was designed to encourage people to talk about children's rights and empower the little ones.
The brochure is now being produced and will subsequently be displayed in local primary schools, after-school care centres, various public buildings in the city of Chemnitz, such as Moritzhof, Tietz and the town hall, as well as youth clubs.
Since autumn 2025, large banners and posters with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been on display in many daycare centres, schools and socio-cultural centres in Chemnitz. Supported by the Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Gesellschaft e. V., the Children and Youth Commissioner has launched this special publicity campaign.
The highlight: all 17 Sustainable Development Goals are depicted on each banner and poster. Each individual goal has its own QR code, which can be easily scanned with a smartphone. Behind each QR code is an audio recording in which a child's voice explains the respective goal in an easily understandable and clear way. The project was initiated by Michaela Koschak, who recorded the audio recordings together with children from Dr Wilhelm-André-Gymnasium. The pupils have already been recognised for their commitment to the sustainability goals. They came 4th in the Chemnitz Environmental Award.
The banners and posters not only invite you to look at them, but also to join in: The educational institutions were asked to hang up the banners and posters together with the children and to engage more intensively with the 17 goals. Some of the sustainability goals overlap directly with children's rights.
There are plans to clearly display all breastfeeding and nappy-changing points in Chemnitz in the family app and on the city's website. Many parents with babies and toddlers often find it difficult to find a suitable place to change nappies when they are out and about. The Children and Youth Officer would like to provide parents with targeted support here, which is why breastfeeding and nappy-changing facilities should be easy to find digitally in future. To this end, discussions are already planned with various stakeholders in Chemnitz to make the offer even more practical.
Recurring projects
Supported by the Children and Youth Officer and school social work in cooperation with municipal institutions, independent socio-cultural initiatives, associations and companies, pupils from primary schools in Chemnitz hold a children's conference in the town hall every year. The children discuss their ideas in workshops on topics they have previously chosen themselves and present the results to their young audience in the city council chamber. Topics include safe cycle paths, nicer school playgrounds, healthy eating, waste separation at school, the establishment of an after-school council and much more. The aim is to learn about democratic processes and inspire other schools to become active.
Families are invited to get active and prove their fitness at various stations on the annual family activity day "Family time in the countryside" organised by the children and youth officers and their partners.
The Children and Youth Representative has been a member of the jury for the Chemnitz Environmental Award since 2015 and is the point of contact for young people and their concerns. The competition was launched in 1991 as an environmental education campaign and serves to sensitise children and young people to environmental issues, such as climate and species protection. Find out more on the Chemnitz Environmental Award website.