Omnia students once again achieved excellent results in the pre-competition series of the national SAKUStars cultural competition. Omnia won a total of 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, 4 bronze medals and 13 honourable mentions, making it the most successful institution in Finland in the pre-competition series.
SAKUStars is an annual national cultural competition for vocational students. Its aim is to support students’ skills and encourage engagement in cultural activities.
Omnia students particularly excelled in visual arts categories, but awards were also received in writing and media productions.
“Students perform especially well in visual arts categories because, for example, in the Media and Visual Expression programme and in crafts programmes, many assignments are suitable for submission to the competition. This year, it was also especially rewarding to see success in writing categories,” says Leena Wiikari, Head Teacher of the Visual Expression competence area.
Gold, silver and bronze for Omnia
Omnia students achieved prize placements in several categories:
Gold
Leo Leppävuori – sculpture
Essi Vainio – essay
Irem Kähtävä – poem
Silver
Nele-Liis Meedla – comics
Irem Kähtävä – essay
Bronze
Simo Väänänen – video
Mona Moghaman Heidari – animation
Jenna Välimäki – podcast
Irem Kähtävä – S2 text
In addition, Omnia students received 13 honourable mentions across various categories.
Inspiring teachers and courageous students
According to Wiikari, the success is built on students’ creativity and long-term encouragement from teachers.
“In addition to talented students, we have enthusiastic teachers who continue to encourage participation year after year. For students, taking part and receiving encouragement is meaningful, even if it doesn’t always lead to success in the results,” Wiikari says.
Participation in competitions gives students an opportunity to showcase skills that may not always be visible in everyday studies.
“It’s great to represent Omnia in a high-level national competition,” Wiikari adds.
Next stop: Tampere for the live competition
The live categories of SAKUStars 2026 will be held in Tampere from 14 to 16 April 2026. A total of 42 Omnia students have registered for the competition.
At the event, students will have the opportunity to test their skills in various cultural and creative fields and meet students from other institutions across Finland.
Explore the winning entries from the pre-competition series on the SAKUStars website (sakustars.fi) (in Finnish).