OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2012. This year’s first meeting of the Sochi 2014 Supervisory Board, under the chairmanship of Alexander Zhukov, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and President of the Russian Olympic Committee has taken place in Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee’s office in Moscow. The key outcome of the meeting was the approval of a conception of a significant Award to recognise contributions made to sustainable development under the preparations for the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Within the Award, project competitions will be held in 2012 and 2013. The main goal of the Award is to increase the number of projects designed for long-term positive changes in social, environmental and economic areas, and also to strengthen the positive image of Russia in the world.

The award will be presented in three categories:

General nominations: "Best complex project of the year", "Best project of the year for work with young people", "Best innovation project of the year".

Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee’s key sustainable development activities: “Healthy lifestyle”, “Harmony with nature”, “World without barriers”, “Economic prosperity”, “Modern technologies”, and “Culture and national values.”

Special nominations: "Company of the year" and "Person of the year."

The first awards ceremony will take place in December 2012 to celebrate winning projects completed between 2011 and 2012.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, Sochi 2014 President and CEO, said:

"All the hard work we are undertaking in preparations for the Games - from infrastructure development to the integration of green construction standards - is achieved to promote positive and sustainable changes across the whole of the country. This focus is the key reason why awarding positive contributions to sustainable development is an extremely important event, helping to praise the companies which are already following these principles today and encouraging others to do the same in the future."

The Supervisory Board highly praised the preparation for the 7th visit of the International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission, which took place in Sochi from the 12th to the 14th of February 2012. The IOC experts stated the start of the transition from the construction and planning stages of the Games to the operational readiness phase. During their trip and evaluation of the pre-test events in Sochi, the IOC Coordination Commission confirmed that the high quality of their staging was the result of the intense work of the Games organisers and their partners over a five year period, their ability to work effectively together and successfully completing all required preparations.