Jyväskylä honors event and conference organizers for 2025

Photo: Päivi Kaski
In the photo: Miro Paananen, Anniina Hartikainen, Kyösti Ylikulju, Rikupekka Oksanen, Marja Korhonen, Sanna Liimatainen, Mira Kajanus, Jani Moilanen, Jenna Purhonen

The public event award went to Jyväskylän Kesä. The event was organized by the Jyväskylä Festival Association. 

- Jyväskylän Kesä is the oldest cultural festival in the Nordic countries and a trendsetter in the Finnish festival scene. In its 70th anniversary year, it combined tradition and innovation, reached a wide range of audiences, and brought performances to the city that are otherwise rare, says Jaana Ruponen, Marketing Manager for Events at the City of Jyväskylä.  

Conference awards presented for ecological research and source code application development

Two conference awards were presented this year.

The 6th Oikos Finland Conference, an ecological research conference organized by the Department of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä, was the largest conference held in the city in 2025, with 417 participants.

The 23rd International Plone Conference, organized by the University of Jyväskylä's digital services, brought together 180 people from around the world. The conference focused on open source application development and Python, the world's most popular programming language. 

Congress Ambassador Award for Summer School

The 2025 Congress Ambassador, Professor Arja Sääkslahti, awarded the University of Jyväskylä's Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Information Technology for organizing the Summer School. The award is given for long-term, committed work for the summer school, which is held regularly and brings together hundreds of academic juniors and seniors year after year to network and learn from each other.

In connection with the award ceremony, a new congress ambassador was also announced: Mihály Szeróvay, Professor of Practice at the University of Jyväskylä's Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. The congress ambassador encourages Jyväskylä's scientists to engage in active international science communication and, in particular, to organize congresses and conferences.

The Event of the Year award is presented annually by the steering group of Jyväskylä, City of Events. The Congress Award is presented by the steering group of the Jyväskylä Convention Bureau, which consists of representatives from educational institutions, the city, and companies providing meeting services.