... best European Charlemagne Youth Prize project
The Polish youth project "YOUrope needs YOU" was awarded the first prize in the European Charlemagne Youth Prize (ECYP) competition on 19 May in Aachen. Through a series of high school workshops run by university students, this project uses informal methods to convey to teenagers interesting facts about Europe.
The second and the third prize went to the "European Festival of university theatre of Albi" (France) and to "Gumboot Diplomacy" (Germany) respectively.EP President, Hans-Gert Pöttering, and the Chairman of the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize, Michael Jansen, participated in the ceremony and handed the prize to the first-prize winner. The ECYP acknowledges projects that foster a shared sense of European identity among young people.
"YOUrope needs YOU"
"YOUrope needs YOU" was designed by members of the European Students' Forum, AEGEE, to empower European high school students to become active citizens. The project trains university students willing to share their EU knowledge by giving workshops at schools. In December 2008 the first high school workshop took place in Gostyn, Poland. The university students presented Europe and the chances it offers to pupils from Poland and 30 exchange students from France.
For Hans-Gert Pöttering "this project represents in a convincing way European diversity. It influences through meetings as well as workshops the participants and the countries they come from. This is the case, because the participants of this project are both ambassadors and multipliers of the European idea. Taking this into account the project stands out as a model example, on which other initiatives in the European Union could be based".
The prizes for the three best projects received funding of €5 000, €3 000 and €2 000, respectively. The three laureates will visit the European Parliament in the coming months.
In April, the European jury, consisting of three MEPs, the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering and four representatives of the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize, selected the three winners from the 27 projects submitted by the national juries.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu
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