The "Karjalapse moonakott" won first place in the Estonian Museum Souvenir of the Year Award competition.

On September 16, at the conference "Who Owns the Collections?" held in Paide, the Estonian Museum Association announced the winners of the Estonian Museum Souvenir Recognition Award (EMMA). 

The first prize was awarded to the "Karjalapse moonakott" (the herder's snack bag) from the Estonian Open Air Museum, which received unanimous approval from the jury for its simplicity, ingenuity, and practicality. The competition organizers highlighted that the contents can be eaten directly, the packaging is minimal, and mostly recyclable.

The idea for the "Karjalapse moonakott" was conceived this spring by Žanna Tamberg, the catering manager at the Kolu Inn of the Open Air Museum, to support the newly opened adventure path “Shepherd’s Trail” and offer an added value to the adventure. The final product, which won first place in the competition, is the result of teamwork at the tavern. Head chef Lauri Priimägi developed the edible contents of the snack bag and found suitable packaging materials. “When developing the contents, we wanted to ensure the food was simple, gave an idea of what a herder's lunch was like, and at the same time appealed to modern children,” says Priimägi, adding that finding a sustainable packaging solution was quite a challenge, and work on this is still ongoing. All the tavern's staff contributed, with some bringing textiles from home to be cut to size.

The snack bag was selected as the winner from more than 60 souvenirs submitted by 34 museums. Never before has the competition seen such a large number of museums and souvenirs participating. The museum's director, Tanel Veeremaa, emphasized that considering the intense competition this year, the win is a great recognition for the museum, especially for the tavern. “The feedback shared by the jury is also valuable, allowing us to further improve the snack bag,” adds Veeremaa.

The EMMA award is presented every two years. Its goal is to recognize and value one aspect of everyday museum work—product development—and to encourage the use of museum collections as a source of inspiration for the creative industries.