Fondo Amici di Paco Literary Award Celebrates Record Submissions and Awareness
Great new success for the literary award launched by the Fondo «Amici di Paco», a national association that has been fighting against stray animals for years and working to raise awareness among Italians on this issue.
The initiative, now in its second edition, is highly appreciated among young students attending Italian middle schools, who were asked to write a composition on a specific theme.
Last year, there were approximately 5,300 participants, and this year’s success has been repeated. In fact, the submissions received at the award’s headquarters in Desenzano amount to 6,482.
And the jury had quite a workload to first select and then choose the compositions to award.
Contest process and themes
The contest format is the proven one from 1999, warmly welcomed by teachers and school principals across more than 8,000 Italian middle schools.
It involves writing an essay about the abandonment of dogs and respect for animals, starting from a sentence contained in the book «Paco il re della strada» (Paco, King of the Street).
The story narrates with emotion the events of a stray dog, Paco indeed, adopted by Diana Lanciotti and her husband at the Verona kennel.
The Gardesani advertising duo took inspiration from this event to create the Fondo and to carry out many related initiatives, including the publication of a magazine and the creation of a publishing house.
In fact, the Fondo funds its activities, which so far have allowed providing around 100,000 free meals to shelters and catteries, through royalties from published books and profits from the sale of gadgets.
Publications and the organization’s commitment
The latest book available in bookstores is «Teo, il dono degli dei» (Teo, the Gift of the Gods) by journalist Emilio Nessi.
This year, as mentioned, participation in the literary award aiming to raise awareness among young Italians about abandonment—a problem affecting about 150,000 dogs each year—was truly extraordinary.
The submitted works, the result of discussions and in-depth reflections, document this success.
This year’s initiative was carried out in collaboration with Snickers sano e bello (Snickers healthy and beautiful) and the hosiery company Sirio, with the patronage of the “Assessorato alla cultura del Comune di Desenzano”.
Award ceremony and related events
The award ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 27, at 10:30 AM at the auditorium Celesti di Desenzano.
During the event, transformed by the organizers into a true celebration, a commercial against abandonment featuring Paco will be screened. This spot has aired on major national television channels, such as Pubblicità Progresso.
The book «Teo, il dono degli dei» will also be presented, and Emilio Nessi will show a video about the rescue of seals.