The Institute of Research and Training on European Affairs proudly participated on the European Charlemagne Youth Prize (ECYP) of 2019 as a Jury Member representing Greece for the third consecutive year.
The Institute of Research and Training on European Affairs which participated as a Jury Member representing Greece, supported the Greek Delegation from the position of the jury committee. IRTEA attended the outstanding award ceremony and the “Charlemagne Prize Forum on Europe” conference with great interest. Also, had the opportunity to socialize, network and get to know all the national winners of each member state, learn about their projects and inspired by the vision and the attitude of the participants regarding their projects.
On Tuesday 28th of May the Award Ceremony took place in the Aachen City Hall. The national winners presented their projects to the audience and the European Winners were announced. The ceremony was accompanied by an orchestra.
- And the 1st Prize Winner was Italy represented by Sarah Penge with the project “Europhonika IT”.
- The 2nd Prize Winner was Finland, represented by Yannika Rönnqvist from European Youth Parliament Finland with the project “Your Active Citizenship”.
- The 3rd Prize Winner was Austria, represented by Canan Yasar from the Muslimische Jugend Österreich with the project “Muslims against anti-Semitism”.
The ceremony was attended by the Vice President of the European Parliament, Rainer Wieland, the former President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering and representatives of the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen.
The national winner from Greece was the high school student Elisabeth Mantzioka with the project “Explore Europe by Learning (EEL)”.
After the ceremony, the participants visited the historical Aachen Cathedral.
Since 2008, the European Parliament together with the “Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen” have each year been inviting young people from all EU Member States to submit projects run by and for youth showing an active participation in the development of Europe. Young people aged between 16 and 30 from any EU Member States can submit projects for the European Charlemagne Youth Prize. The prize for the best project is €7500, the second €5000 and the third €2500. As part of the prize, the three European laureates are invited to visit the European Parliament in Brussels or Strasbourg.
This year, ECYP took place from 27 to 30 May in Aachen. National winners from the 28 EU member states, former winners and jury members were all gathered together. Through these four days, all the participants had the chance to learn about all the 28 projects, to get to know with each other and share their enthusiasm about the ECYP. Also, participants were guided to Aachen and learned about the history of the city.
During the third day of ECYP 2019, all the participants took part in the “Charlemagne Prize Forum on Europe” conference where German politicians and journalists discussed about the outcome of the European Elections, Brexit, Multilateralism and lessons that have learned from crisis and the visions of the future. The forum finished with a brief interview of António Gutteres, the designated Charlemagne Prize Laureate and Secretary-General of the United Nations. Later this day, all winners had the chance to meet and discuss about their projects during the Open Air Festival with António Gutteres.
The last day of ECYP 2019, participants attended the pontifical mass in the Aachen Cathedral and the Charlemagne Prize Open Air Festival.
You can visit our Facebook page to see more about the conference, the award ceremony and all the days of the ECYP 2019.