Rapid Developer Prizes (Bronze)
The creators of the first five concepts (parts 1 and 2) received by 31 July 2020 at the latest and meeting all the criteria mentioned will each receive €5,000 for environmental protection measures for their school. If the winners come from several schools of one location, the winnings will be shared accordingly.
The winners of the Rapid Developer Prizes will be announced in August 2020 by the #oekoropa project management.
Sustainability Prizes (Silver)
The ten teams with the most convincing concepts (parts 1 and 2) will receive the Sustainability Prize about 5.000 EUR and with it a bike for each team member.
Due to developments in the context of the Corona Pandemic, which has caused travel restrictions worldwide, it was decided that no main winning team will be selected next year. Therefore, the teams are free to choose whether to realize the trip or use the money for a sustainable /climate neutral project at their school/ in their city.
Grand Prize #oekoropa (Gold)
Of the ten groups of travelling pupils, the school of the team with the most effective public presentation and travel documentation will ultimately receive the #oekoropa Grand Prize, a very special surprise. If the winners come from several schools, the winnings will be shared accordingly.
The Grand Prize winning team will be selected in autumn 2021 by a Goethe jury consisting of staff members from the Goethe-Instituts in Berlin, Ljubljana, and Lisbon, as well as the head office in Munich.
Kristina Cunningham
She works as a senior expert on multilingualism in the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture at the European Commission in Brussels. Her main focus is the implementation of the EU Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach to language teaching and learning.
Education, multilingualism and youth work are areas that can be supported by EU programmes. In the school sector, the European Commission promotes "communities" for teachers through the School Education Gateway and eTwinning. Climate protection and environmental issues, as well as "Distance / Blended Learning" are currently very important topics in these areas.
What is your motivation to join #oekoropa?
It is a great pleasure for me to be a member of the jury for the #oekoropa competition. For several years now, young people all over Europe have been thinking about climate and environmental issues. The movement, which has gained a lot of strength thanks to Greta Thunberg, has taken on a whole new meaning since March 2020. Today, there is no longer a person in the economically strong regions of the world who does not think about how private and business trips can be planned and carried out more sustainably.
At the end of 2019, the European Commission had already taken the decision to make climate change and environmental challenges the eTwinning theme of the year 2020. This has led to an impressive number of interesting projects in school classes, which have enabled intensive cross-border cooperation for children and young people during the period of school closures. I am very curious to see what interesting ideas will be developed and elaborated through this Goethe-Institut initiative.
I wish all participants* a lot of fun and good luck!