On hand for the gala event was Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, Croatian foreign and European affairs minister Davor Ivo Stier, Croatian Heritage Foundation director Mirjana Piskulić and Zvonko Milas, state secretary at Croatian Government’s State Office for Croats Abroad.
At a gala event on March 8th, held on the occasion of International Woman’s Day, the Croatian Women’s Network – an organisation operating out of the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario – presented their prestigious Croatian Women of Influence Award and the Top-20-Under-20 Future Leaders Award to Croatian women and women of Croatian ancestry and heritage from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Germany, the United States of America and from the South American continent.
For the first time the Croatian Women’s Network presented an honorary Friends of Croatia award. It went to Dr Esther Gitman for her exceptional contributions in promoting the truth about the life and work of the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.
Among the award recipients are two women from Germany – journalist and writer Marijana Dokoza who serves as editor of Fenix Magazin, a monthly publication targeted to the émigré Croatian community, and to Dr Neda Caktaš, a physician and journalist current serving at the posts of president of the Croatian House of Munich, vice president of the Germany chapter of the Croatian World Congress and vice president of the Munich chapter of the Matrix Croatica. Dokoza and Caktaš took the Croatian Women of Influence Award in the leadership and innovation category.
Croatian Women’s Network and Croatian Women of Influence Award founder Caroline Spivak was on hand to greet everybody that came together for the awards ceremony.
Also on hand for the gala event was Milan Bandić, the Mayor of the City of Zagreb, Davor Ivo Stier, the Croatian foreign and European affairs minister and Mirjana Piskulić, the director f the Croatian Heritage Foundation.
Zvonko Milas, who serves as state secretary at the Croatian Government’s State Office for Croats Abroad, was also on hand to speak to the gathered event participants.
On the day of the awards ceremony the Croatian Women’s Network also staged an international conference. The Advancing Women, Advancing Economies and Achieve Your Potential conference was held under the high patronage of Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, the President of the Republic of Croatia.
See the full list of award recipients at the following link: croatianwomensnetwork.org
See the photo gallery at the following link: fenix-magazin.de
