Jury members at meeting in Brussels 

The Jury of the 9th European Greenways Award was made up of experts whose professional background allowed them to approach, from a range of perspectives, the analysis of the exceptional candidates from 7 different countries.

  • Ms. Girma Anuskeviciute – DG GROW, Unit F4 – Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries. European Commission
  • Ms. Anne GRADY. European Commission. Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC). Unit D.1 – Cultural Policy
  • Ms. Ilaria MAGGIOROTTI,  Rete Ferroviaria Italiana R.F.I. S.p.A. Responsible of the disused railways
  • Mr. Javier MORENO. Technical Advisor of EIM aisbl (European Rail Infrastructure Managers)
  • Mr. Ignace Schops. Director. President EUROPARC Federation
  • Mr. Giulio SENES: EGWA President of the EGWA (Vote, in case of a tie vote)

The jury was assisted technically by Isabelle Dullaert (Waloon region and Vice-president EGWA), Gilbert Perrin, (Chemind du Rail and past president of the EGWA) and Mercedes Muñoz (EGWA director and jury Secretary).

As laid down in the award regulations, the jury set out to select 3 awards for the categories Excellence and Exemplary Initiatives and 1 special award for “Exemplary innovative action / product to improve the info and experience for tourist”; this last one being part of the activities included in the Greenways Heritage project, co-financed by COSME Programme 2017.

The 9th European Greenways Award has been organized by the European Greenways Association (EGWA) in cooperation with the Vidzeme Tourism Association (Latvia).

The winners will be announced in the Vidzeme Region (Latvia) on Thursday September 5 2019.

The awards contributes to the promotion of best practices in greenways, to encourage the qualitative development of these new facilities open to the general public in Europe, that are “Communication routes reserved exclusively for non-motorised journeys. These routes should meet satisfactory standards of width, gradient, and surface condition to ensure that they are both user-friendly and low-risk for users of all abilities. In this respect, canal towpaths and disused railway lines are a highly suitable resource for the development of greenways.  Greenways are known with different names depending on the country: Voies Vertes, Vias Verdes, RAVEL, Ecopistas, Radwege auf alten Bahntrassen, railtrails.

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