As scholarships for students are one of the most important goals of the "Petar Mandic" Endowment, the organisation awarded its first scholarship.

The first scholarship of the "Petar Mandic" Endowment awarded

On 15th October - the date when Tesla's polyphase system in Niagara was put into operation in 1896 and when the first propulsion of electricity was released towards Buffalo, the first city that Tesla lit up in the USA - the "Petar Mandic" Endowment announced at the official presentation of the municipality of Novа Varos, a public competition for awarding a scholarship.

The Managing Board of the Endowment previously formed the methodology with which this scholarship is awarded. The methodology is completely in accordance with the eligibility criteria from the Statute and during the scoring process some new ones were added to ensure that the resources are assigned most adequately. In order to avoid a possible conflict of interest and any kind of nepotism, it was determined that the winner of the scholarship cannot be a person who is close related with members of the Managing Board of the Endowment.

A total of 17 applications were received for the competition and each of them was thoroughly processed by each member of the Managing Board individually. At the end, members of the Managing Board presented their impressions at a joint online meeting and independently voted for the scholarship winner. Already in the first round of voting, it was agreed by an absolute majority that the winner would be Ana Popovic, a student of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, who was awarded a scholarship of 100 thousand dinars. This is the first scholarship awarded by the Endowment since its formation.

Considering the quality of the competition applications received and the fact that it is the first historical competition, the Managing Board of the Endowment made a decision that all students who applied can also receive a deluxe edition of the book Tesla: Duhovni lik (Tesla: The Spiritual Character), with a dedication by the author. All students who applied received the mentioned book, which was awarded to them in the ceremonial hall of the parish house of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Belgrade.