ALL ABOUT THE XVI GIRLS’ DAY 2026

28 May ALL ABOUT THE XVI GIRLS’ DAY 2026

Every fourth Thursday in April (this year on April 23), in more than 150 countries around the world, the International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated, established by the United Nations.

For 16 years, the Association of Business Women in Serbia has been marking this event, and for 11 years a student competition called “Catch the Idea” has also been organized for schoolgirls.

For the eighth consecutive year, the event was held under the name “A1 Girls in ICT Sector Day,” with institutional support from the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, the European House as the host of the final ceremony, the Office for IT and eGovernment, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Serbia (UN Women), European SME Week, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry Foundation (RNIDS).

Awards for the best programming projects were presented on April 23 at the final ceremony in the European House, attended by more than 50 girls from all over the country. In addition to the selection of the best project within the “Catch the Idea” competition, company visits were organized for girls in the seventh and eighth grades of primary school.

Activities within the event:

• The “Catch the Idea” competition ran from February 25 to April 5, 2026.
• Visits for girls were organized to ICT companies, companies owned by women or where women hold managerial positions, or companies operating in traditionally non-female sectors. Meetings and discussions with female managers were organized throughout April and May, with some meetings continuing into the first half of June.
• Final ceremony at the Europe House.

Girls in ICT Day 2026 in numbers:

• 13,000 girls have participated in the event over the past 16 years
• 1,107 participants took part in this year’s event in total, including:
  • 964 girls, final-year primary school students, participated in company visits
  • 143 girls participated in the “Catch the Idea” competition
• 100 teachers – coordinators
• 69 schools from 46 cities in Serbia applied to participate in one of the activities (visits + competition)

• 12 companies supported the event: A1 Serbia, Publishing House Klett, WMG Foundation, Elektromreža Srbije, Finiti Solutions, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Fibonacci, Logiscool, Europrofil, Saint D, Tridesetri, Coca Cola, the Serbian National Internet Domain Registry Foundation (RNIDS).
• 32 company visits were organized during the event. Companies hosting the girls included: A1 Serbia, WMG Foundation, Klett Belgrade, Europrofil, Ericsson Belgrade, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Mihajlo Pupin Institute, OTP Osiguranje, Mikroelektronika, University Metropolitan, Camlin group,  Finiti Solutions, Vega IT Novi Sad, Vega IT Niš, Biosense Institute, Microsoft, MEGA SOLUTIONS, Heliant, ProMedia, Logik Niš, Elektromreža Srbije, Foundever, Knauf Insulation, Lioneight Kragujevac, Deloitte, Innovation Startup Center „Smart city“ Loznica, Testeral Jagodina, Turbo Servis Užice, Levi9 Belgrade, ContiTech Fluid Serbia d.o.o. Subotica, Europe House, Data Center and many others.
• 58 teams applied for the “Catch the Idea” competition
• 17 projects met the competition criteria
• more than 100 girls from 37 schools participated in the competition
• 6 jury members selected the best projects:
  • Plamena Halacheva, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia
  • Olivera Popović, Vice President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia, jury chair
  • Branka Pudrlja Durbaba, A1 Serbia
  • Milana Rikanović, UN Women Serbia
  • Isidora Orlić, Fibonacci Belgrade
  • Tijana Jokić, Quality, Corporate Compliance and Sustainability Manager, Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport
• 5 awarded projects (12 contestants)
• 50 girls attended the final ceremony from 6 primary schools across Serbia

Winning teams:

1. First place – team “Two Pixels”, Elementary school “Žarko Zrenjanin,” Zrenjanin; winners: Teodora Konstanin and Helena Krstić
2. Second place – team “Cyber Force”, Elementary school “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj,” Sremska Mitrovica; winners: Mila Radić and Anđela Srdić
3. Third place – team “Vision”, Elementary school “Vožd Karađorđe,” Niš; winners: Đurđa Žunić, Klara Marković, Lenka Cvetković
4. Fourth place – team “Kefalice”, Elementary school “Dositej Obradović,” Kraljevo; winners: Una Janićijević and Nikolina Raičević
5. Fifth place – team “LML Animators”, Elementary school “Živko Tomić,” Donja Šatornja; winners: Lenka Milivojević, Lena Vasiljević, Milica Marković

Valuable prizes for the competition winners were provided this year as well by A1 Serbia, which awarded mobile phones to members of the first-place team as well as gift packages for all five winning teams. The WMG Foundation awarded wireless headphones to the second-place team. Elektromreža Srbije provided prizes for third place, while Finiti Solutions provided prizes for fourth and fifth place, as well as gifts for girls in the audience. Klett Publishing House also gave gifts to all girls.

Prizes to the winning teams of the “Catch the Idea” competition were presented by Olivera Popović, Vice President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia and coordinator of the Girls in ICT Day project, Branka Pudrlja Durbaba, Chief Business Customer Officer at A1 Serbia, Jelena Avramović, Program Manager at WMG Foundation, Marija Lazarević, Senior Project Manager at Finiti Solutions, and Isidora Orlić and Nikolina Radojčić from Logiscool and Fibonacci Center.

• A large number of media appearances and coverage of Girls in ICT Day were featured across portals, websites, TV, and radio broadcasts.

More about Girls in ICT Day:

This year, within the final ceremony, a panel titled “From First Code to Career: Women in IT Across Generations” was held. Speakers included:

• Olivera Popović, Vice President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia, mathematician, programmer, and entrepreneur
• Tijana Naprta, COO of TRIDESETRI d.o.o.
• Maja Vuletić, second-year law student (named Student of the Year in her first year), who is already taking her first steps in the IT world
• Nina Orlandić, student of the Mathematical Gymnasium and former participant and winner of the “Catch the Idea” competition

This year, Girls in ICT Sector Day was organized with significant support from the Fibonacci Educational Center.

The final award ceremony was held on April 23, 2026, in the Europe House, with 90 participants.

COMPANY VISITS through  photos