The Winners of the RRI Contest "Maramures - culture and traditions at the heart of Europe"

Dear friends, RRI invited you to participate in a new prize winning contest, entitled "Maramures - culture and traditions at the heart of Europe", devoted to the northern county of Maramures, one of the most beautiful and most visited regions in Romania.

The contest proved quite popular with our listeners, receiving 301 correct and complete answers. Thank you for participating, and we invite you back in the upcoming editions. The winners will receive prizes consisting in objects that promote the culture of Maramures. The contest is organized jointly with Maramures County Council, the Baia Mare Town Hall, the County Museum of Arts “Baia Mare Artistic Centre”, the Baia Mare Branch of the Visual Artists’ Union and the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Maramures and Satmar.

The answers to the contest questions were available in the RRI’s broadcasts, on our website www.rri.ro and our Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn profiles. The contest ended on November 30, 2017, mailing date. Before telling you who the winners are, let's take a look at the questions once again:

Which part of Romania is Maramures located in? Correct answer: in the North

What is the name of the famous funerary art monument, one of the area’s main attractions? Correct answer: the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta

How many wooden churches in Maramures are on the UNESCO heritage list? Correct answer: 8

What is the name of the county’s capital? Correct answer: Baia Mare.

The English section received 123 answers, of which 89 were correct answers.

And now let's see who the winners are:

The 30 honorable mentions went the following listeners or Internet users: Zhi Yanqiao, of China, Emad Ali Abdel Wahed, of Iraq, Vitali Efimenko of Belarus, who wrote to the Ukrainian Section, Farid Boumechaal of Algeria, Marco Botatti, Maria Riello, Massimo De Muro and Simona Baj, all four from Italy, Anton Bostanjiev, Alexei Saropiatov and Nikolai Larin, all three from Russia, Marek Pis of Polonia who wrote to the Russian Section, David Iurescia of Argentina, Aylton José Cordeiro Gama, Alberto Hindeburgo Fetter and Henrique José Dantas Felinto, all 3three from Brazil, José Luis Corcuera of Spain, Freddy Armijo Ramírez, of Chile, Marco Hommel, of Austria, Hemsagar Naik, of India, Kanwar Sandhu, of Canada, David Harrington, from the UK, Michael Cunningham from Australia, Jonathan Murphy of Ireland, Henk Poortvliet of the Netherlands, Arthur Lucas Santos Gomes of Brazil, Jaroslaw Jedrzejczak of Poland, Stefan Stanev of Bulgaria, Tim Arne of Estonia and Jean-Francois Le Fillarte of Germany, the last six having written to the English Section.

The 20  3rd prizes went to Xue Fei and Li Ming, both from China, Georg Pleschberger from Austria, Rachid Dahmani, from Algeria, Munif Ben Mahfouz, from Tunisia, Natalia Zabolotna, from Ukraine, Amady Faye, from Senegal, Antonella Monti and Dino Antonio Rossetto, both from Italy, Nikolai Prigodici  (Belarus), Anatoli Klepov, of Russia, Fabio Calpa Caicedo of Columbia, Art  R. Wormald of Canada, who wrote to the Spanish Section, Heimer Sia of the Philippines, Chris Smolinski of the US, Hans Verner Lollicke of Denmark, Gita Chakrabarty of India, Shariful Islam Sharif and Naz Parvin, both of Bangladesh, Art R. Wormald of Canada, and Ali Shahzad Chadhar of Pakistan.

The 20 2nd prizes went our fellow Romanian Ramona Bărbulescu, from Spania, Chu Changrong and Liu Fajian, both from China, Fritz Andorf, of germany, Abdel Razzak Qasmi, of Algeria, Volodimir Bondar, of Ukraine, Christian Ghibaudo and Bernard Launay, both from France, Ernesto Gandini and Stefano Citterio, both from Italy, Serghei Koleşov, of Ukraine, who wrote to the Russion Section, Serghei Bezenkov, of Russia, Juan Pablo Caja, of Spain, Fabio Junior da Silva of Brazil, Brian Kendall of the UK, Kraig Krist of the US, Radhakrishna Pillai and Deepak Kumar of India and Adrian Micaleff of Malta.

The 10  1st prizes went to Ivan Klein, of the US, Miodrag Ristici, of Serbia, Bernd Seiser, of Germany, Mohamed El-Sayed Abdel Rahim, of Egypt, Volodimir Gudzenko, of Russia, who wrote to the Ukrainian Section, Giorgio Rapisarda, of Italy, Ivan Lebedev, of Russia, Oscar Castillo Cabrera, of Peru, Jaydeep Chakrabarty and Naved Raiyan, both of India.

The 9 special prizes went to Fan Hongjie, of China, Idriss Bououdina, of Marocco, Jean Marc Olry, of France, Giovanni Alotto, of Italy, Nicolai Loghinov, of Russia, Adriel  Amaya  Armas, of Cuba, Alan Gale of the UK, Christer Brunstrom of Sweden, and Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh.

Here is what some of the winning contestants wrote as their motivation for taking part in our contest:

ALAN GALE, Lancashire, UK: “With such a fantastic list of places who wouldn't want to visit there, and I must admit that since my other big hobby is photography, I would certainly be in my element in such photogenic places, especially in the case of the Mocanita Steam Train, as I really love heritage railways. Since it may be some time before I can actually get there, the next best thing would be to win a prize in your contest. I really enjoy the programmes on RRI, and love to hear about places such as this, and I believe that radio is a great way that a country can promote its national treasures such as these, and also educate the world's listeners about just what Romania has to offer.”

ASHIK EQBAL TOKON, Bangladesh: “Radio Romania International is a gateway to discover Romania and the Romanians. It’s also a hub of cultural exchange between Romania and the world. RRI is a unique guide to explore the hidden beauties and the powerful culture as well as the historic places that lies into the heart of Europe. From my childhood Radio Bucharest, the Radio Romania International is one and only light house to take the adventure of discovering Romania. Listening RRI still my habitual manner and I hang on RRI’s web and surfing yet onto its electromagnetic wave. RRI is also my teacher, who bound to learn more through quiz contest and its informative features. Radio Romania International is my friend who always stayed beside me to enhance my knowledge on Romania and its historic beauty. Long live Romania. . . Long live RRI” . . .

CHRISTER BRUNSTROM, Sweden: Even the name of the county - Maramures - has a good ring to it. I have frequently heard you mention that Prince Charles is a frequent visitor to Maramures and that he owns property there. I understand that he takes a strong interest in the preservation of traditional architecture and he has frequently spoken out when there have been plans to replace valuable old buildings with new and modern ones. I agree with him that we need to preserve our historical heritage for future generations to enjoy and it seems that Maramures has a lot that needs to remain intact. I have been an RRI listener since 1962 and I enjoy all activities that promote listener participation in your programming (mail bag shows, contests, special events). All these activities demonstrate that you care about the short-wave listeners who stay with you year after year. The contest also provide a lot of useful information about your country.”

We would like to thank everyone who answered the questions and provided their motivation for participation. The prizes and special mentions will be sent to you over the next few months. Please send us a letter or e-mail confirming reception and content of the prizes. Thank you once again for participating in the RRI's contest, and we invite you to participate in our next contests as well.