PRESS RELEASE
Eighth successful edition of the Pieve di Soligo competition, city of Blessed Toniolo
“The Giuseppe Toniolo Award is a sign of hope for everyone” International dimension for the event with the recognition of Jean de Saint-Cheron
He stated this at the time of the award ceremony for the author of the volume “He who believes is not a bourgeois” the events and communications manager of the Vatican Publishing House, Helene Destombes, and he reiterated it in his final speech on Bishop Corrado Pizziolo: “The Giuseppe Toniolo Award is a sign of hope for everyone”. There could not have been a more beautiful and significant consideration for the eighth edition of the competition promoted by the Beato Toniolo Diocesan Institute. The streets of the Saints, with the collaboration of other ecclesial entities in the area and the contribution of the Vite Illustri Pieve di Soligo – VIP cultural network (large delegation in the room of the Association Friends of Don Mario Gerlin), whose final ceremony took place in evening of Saturday 7 October in the Battistella Moccia municipal auditorium of Pieve di Soligo. Already in his introductory greetings the IBT president, Fr Andrea Dal Cin, had reiterated the suggestive charm of the year's theme linked to holiness, the fullness of human and Christian life and the "society of saints". And the message at the awards ceremony for the Thought section of Jean de Saint Cheron, a young French intellectual who works at the Institut Catholique de Paris for the volume mentioned above published by the LEV, was precisely a clear and effective invitation to open everyone's life to the horizons of charity which gives great happiness, as highlighted in the television interview and in the video message dedicated by the transalpine author to all the participants in the evening. Destombes herself, who arrived from the Vatican to collect the prize awarded to de Saint-Cheron for a book already highly appreciated by the French press, expressed this important reflection and request in her applauded speech. It was instead Don Gianni Antoniazzi, parish priest of Carpenedo, to go on stage to receive the recognition given for the regional section Action & Witnesses to Carpinetum Onlus Foundation of Mestre – Venice, which translates the extraordinary example of human, religious, pastoral and welfare dedication of the founder Don Armando Trevisiol (1929 – 2023) into concrete facts and daily works and pursues, on a non-profit basis, solidarity, civic and social utility goals in the municipality of Venice, in favor of self-sufficient elderly people and people in need. For both of these sections the 2023 Giuseppe Toniolo Prize was awarded Ascotrade – HERA Group to concretely guarantee the awarding of the prizes, thus making its debut among the main supporters of the event, present at the delivery of the parchments Michele Chies, of the marketing and local events area. “Support the Toniolo award, in its dual structure of recognition of 'thought', on the one hand, and support of the 'action' of people and associations in favor of the community, on the other - he stated on the sidelines of the event Philip Boraso, customer operations manager for Ascotrade Hera Group – represents for our company a concrete expression of closeness and attention to citizens, local institutions and customers. Territorial rooting and generation of shared value are two pillars of the Hera Group's development strategy, which once again demonstrates particular attention to the cultural and social issues that emerge from the areas in which it operates". Tradition confirmed instead for the City of Pieve di Soligo, which through the hands of the councilor for culture and vice mayor, Luisa Cigagna, renewed its concrete contribution to the Youth section of the Giuseppe Toniolo Award, won this year by OVCI Group – Our Family in the diocese of Vittorio Veneto, has long been involved in concrete projects of human promotion and international solidarity in the health and social fields. The diocesan coordinator of the group, Manuela Zandonella, and the OVCI contact person Francesca Villanova they went up to collect the prize, and after having contacted the Piedmont physiotherapist live by telephone Marika Santi, working in Juba in South Sudan, have announced that the same prize will be used to finance an initiative to help and support disabled children in Africa.
They were also presented with a certificate of appreciation to the president of Latteria Soligo, Lorenzo Brugnera, withdrawn from Donatella Nardi, in this 2023 which marks 140 years since the foundation of the important Solighe cooperative, and a commendation to the young university student Francesco Stefani, author of the short film “Giuseppe Toniolo. A winning story”, excited and happy on the stage of the “Battistella Moccia”. And while Don Andrea Forest officially presented in the room the theme of the Giuseppe Toniolo Prize 2024, ninth edition, “Participating in the realization of the common good: between democracy and society, the lesson for today from Blessed Giuseppe Toniolo”, in line with the next Catholic Social Week in Italy, in his speech Bishop Pizziolo praised the Toniolo Award for its ability to make known and highlight the many experiences of good and altruism present in the social context, also announcing the release of his message on the occasion “Big goals and small steps. Guidance and attention, for a journey to take together" written for the conclusion of the month of Creation 2023. Appreciate and applaud the good presenter Elisa Nadai and the duo's musical performances Stefano Soncini on the cello e Margaret Boatin at the piano, with thanks to all the protagonists, sponsors and collaborators expressed by the IBT scientific director Marco Zabotti, before the choral greeting to the new Archpriest Monsignor Luigino Zago, at its first public outing after the official entry that same afternoon in Pieve di Soligo, and of the final group photo of all the winners of the 2023 Giuseppe Toniolo Prize.
