Nieuwegein, May 12, 2020 – On Tuesday afternoon, a special edition of the Dutch Lottery in Motion Award took place. Due to the corona crisis, the award ceremony could not take place in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, as was actually intended. The Dutch Lottery and the jury members were determined to award the prize anyway, so a video call was chosen. Kantinebaas won a prize! Kantinebaas is an initiative of the Royal Dutch Billiards Association (KNBB), the Dutch Table Tennis Association (NTTB), the Dutch Darts Association (NDB) and digital sports marketing agency Sportunity.
Willem La Riviere, director of the KNBB and spokesperson on behalf of the Kantinebaas during the presentation, in the picture together with two of the five jury members Pieter van den Hoogenband and Bibian Mentel.
All those involved in the nominated initiatives were enormously surprised when they were told this afternoon by Bibian Mentel, chairman of the jury committee, that not one, but four initiatives were awarded winners. Due to the current, uncertain corona situation and four very good initiatives, the organization of the Nederlandse Loterij in Beweging Prize came to this decision. The total prize pool is divided among the four initiatives (Kantinebaas, Meet-n-Move, De onbeperkte Elfstedentocht and Het Danspaleis) and they each receive a check for € 16,250. Niels Schut, Director of Sportunity: “This prize was created to support initiatives that literally get people moving with the aim of making the Netherlands happy, healthy and sporty. We as Sportunity fully propagate this mission and it is great when together with the three sports associations you will receive this appreciation for this! We will certainly continue with it!”.
Award ceremony by video call
The award ceremony took place via a video call. The four nominated initiatives, chosen from a total of more than 30 other initiatives, all took the floor. The jury members responded with great emotion and showed that they are very enthusiastic about the efforts of those involved. The jury consisted of chairman Bibian Mentel, Hedy d’Ancona, Hugo Borst, Marjan Olfers, and Pieter van den Hoogenband. The latter indicated that I was very impressed by the creativity of the various sports federations involved in the Kantinebaas platform: “I have also regularly played a game. Every top performance is a team effort. In good teams you have to support and help each other. Kantinebaas is a fantastic initiative to create a balance between performance and fun in the workplace”.
Even more work floors in motion
“We are so incredibly happy!”, Says Willem La Riviere (director KNBB). “For ourselves as the Royal Dutch Billiards Association (KNBB), but also for the NTTB, the NDB and for Sportunity. It is nice when an innovative idea when Kantinebaas with important social components can count on such a great appreciation! In our opinion, the jury has found a great solution this year by allowing all four wonderful initiatives to be shared, something that really fits in the current time where we have to do it together. We are incredibly proud that we have now won with Kantinebaas. Thanks to the Dutch Lottery for this, and for the accompanying check for € 16,250. This is very useful for the further roll-out of Kantinebaas throughout the Netherlands, and for the further digital development ”.
The sports federations and Sportunity will use the check to get even more companies moving. For example, they plan to organize a Canteen Boss End Event, in which the most fanatical Canteen Bosses on the Dutch work floor will compete against each other. Paul Engelbertink, director of the NDB: “We are extremely proud. Not only on the wonderful prize we have won today, but also on the unique collaboration with the NTTB, KNBB and Sportunity. Thanks to the Dutch Lottery, we can encourage even more employees and employers to get out of the office chair. After all, healthy and vital employees are the engine of a successful company ”.
Dennis Rijnbeek (NTTB) sees new opportunities as a sports association to reach more ping-pong players in offices: “This prize is a new boost for the development of our products for the table tennis players. In these special times we see many people who use our sport ( re-) discover and with our apps we make that even more fun! “.
About the Nederlandse Loterij (Dutch Lottery)
Nederlandse Loterij is the name behind seven well-known games of chance: State Lottery, Lotto, Eurojackpot, Million Game, Lucky Day, Scratch Cards and Toto. Every year, the Dutch Lottery invests almost its entire proceeds in Dutch sports through NOC*NSF, in 18 charities in the field of health, exercise and welfare and in Dutch society through the Ministry of Finance. In 2019, this involved an investment of more than € 173 million.
More information about the Kantinebaas app can be found at www.kantinebaas.club.
