The Fundación Paraguaya, seeking to motivate the Christmas spirit and creativity of Paraguayan families, organized for the first time the contest called “Qué bonito tu pesebre” aimed for the public in general and with national reach. It also sought to keep and encourage the peace and love tradition which is so ingrained in our culture. The launch was made through the organization’s social networks, where the interested parties had access to the bases and conditions available to participate, where later and via WhatsApp, they would send the photo of their manger and the corresponding information.

More than 500 photos and videos of nativity scenes from all over the country were received, some more modest, others more crafted, others classic, original and in all sizes -large, medium, and small. As a first instance, a jury from Fundación Paraguaya shortlisted 20 nativity scenes, which later, to have the 3 winners, were voted on by the public in a certain period of time. The winners were announced on the Fundación Paraguaya networks on Monday, December 28.

Finally, after counting the votes, were awarded: Ariel Kokubo, from San Juan Nepomuceno with 3,313 votes (first place); Antolina Galarza, from San Ignacio with 1,287 votes (second place); and Alexis Rolón, from Asunción, with 1,031 votes (third place). The prizes consist of savings accounts of PYG 3,000,000, PYG 2,000,000 and PYG 1,000,000 respectively, plus the images of Jesus, Mary and Joseph made by artisans from the city of Areguá for the 3 winners; on the other hand, among the other shortlisted, 5 baskets with products from the Cerrito Agricultural School were raffled.

“This year has been tough, amid lots of effort and sacrifices, our faith guided us on the path of hope, so in this holiday season we have to honor the most important thing: Family. In the homes that I visited, the first thing that families showed me proudly was their manger, and that moved me a lot and motivated us to organize this contest,” said Martín Burt, executive director of Fundación Paraguaya, during the promotion of the first edition of ¡Qué lindo tu pesebre!

It is worth noting that the contest did not involve collaborators from Fundación Paraguaya, nor their direct nuclear family.