Publication of results: Meet the winners of EnTrust’s creative contest!
‘A Europe we Trust: Visions of European youth’ is a contest that called on young people aged 13-19 living in Europe to share their visions for the future of Europe in a creative format. After receiving 60 submissions from all over Europe and reviewing them carefully with a jury, we are happy to announce the winners of the contest!
About the process
The jury was composed by Andrea Lapegna, the Deputy Director of the Lifelong Learning Platform, Carmen Romero, the Membership and Governance Coordinator of the Organising Bureau of European School Students Unions, and two members of the EnTrust consortium: Lenka Štěpánková, assistant professor at the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University, and Marian Pradella, research associate at the Chair of Sociology – Comparative Cultural Sociology and European Political Sociology at the University of Siegen.
Submissions were sorted based on three age categories: 13-14, 15-16, 17-19. Based on age and criteria such as message and communication, creativity, uniqueness, and originality, consistency with theme, and aesthetic appeal, the jury chose 1 winning submission per age category. Find the winners and honorable mentions below!
About the prize and awards ceremony
Winners have been invited to Brussels to visit the EU institutions and attend an awards ceremony as part of the Final Conference of the EnTrust project. This will take place in Brussels on the 10th of January, 2024. Registrations are now open!
- For the agenda of the Final Conference, please click here.
- To participate, please register here.
Winners per category
13 to 14 category
Barbara Martins
- Age: 14
- Country: Portugal
- Submission: See her full creative work here.
- Motivation:
I live in Esporão, near Góis, a small village in the central region of Portugal. I live in a rural area, which suffered in 2017 from the largest forest fire ever to occur in my country (24 thousand ha) and the deadliest in history. Góis is part of the Natura 2000 Site of Community Importance – Serra da Lousã, with a diversity of habitats, fauna and flora that are very important to preserve and that inspire me in my daily life.
I am a 9th year student, and my school is involved in an Erasmus+ project called “SEEDS – EntrEpreneurship Seeds for Sustainable Development”, which last month won the LLLAward 2023 at Provider level. We are learning a lot with this project, working with scientists, photographers, digital communicators, an environmental engineer/environmental educator, and with all of the teachers that give us a lot of help.
I have always liked nature, and I learned lots of things with my family. I decided to participate in this award because I have always liked challenges, and the engineer that is involved in SEEDS suggested that could be a great opportunity for me to participate. In the future I would like to study sciences and be an investigator or even an engineer because I also like math.
15 to 16 category
Junior ambassadors of Manuel de Falla high school in Coslada, Madrid
- Names: Sofía González Díaz, Clara López Gómez, Ángel Muñoz Muñoz, Marta Arminio Guerra, Luis Carrazón Durán, Itziar Daza Rodríguez, Álvaro de la Flor Collado, Paula González Esteban, Diego Merino Maroto, Lucia Moreira Bermejo, Louis Arthure Ngounou Ngo-Nounga.
- Age: 16
- Country: Spain
- Submission: See their full creative work here.
- Motivation:
The junior ambassadors of Manuel de Falla high school in Coslada, Madrid who are participating in this contest are deeply concerned about the participation in the next European elections. We want to encourage young people to be active in the decision-making process as there is too much at stake. This picture wants to remind European people that by voting in the next elections to the European Parliament in May, we vote to keep EU values alive: peace, democracy, freedom, equality, human rights, sustainability, etc.
Young people have a say in the next elections by voting or encouraging other people to vote. We are aware of the benefits of being part of the European Union and voting is a way to preserve EU values.
The Europe we trust should continue to defend these values.
17 to 19 category
Tea Josipovic
- Age: 19
- Country: Serbia
- Submission: See her full creative work here.
- Motivation:
As a young European, I recognized this contest as an opportunity to share my desires and visions for the future of our home. And I simply asked myself “What if Europe looked better?”. I must say that it was not easy at all to define the meaning of the word “better”, because I sought to understand not only my aspirations, but also the collective desires of people in my country and Europe as a whole. What I would like to see in the future Europe would definitely be a greater emphasis on the mental health of all people. In the past three years, particularly since the outbreak of the coronavirus, I have witnessed that people have become significantly distant, they spend less and less time together and they feel too overwhelmed with work or academic pressure. Additionally, I envision a future where people spend more time outdoors, breathing fresh air, surrounded by nature. And did I just say “breathing fresh air”? Yes, and this was the exact moment when the second problem popped into my mind. Considering that I come from Belgrade, Serbia, every year I witness an increasingly horrifying sight. Every morning, especially during winter, I wake up with a view of gray, concrete buildings surrounded by smog, or rather very dangerous particles in the air. Also, in the last few years, there has been a lot of river pollution and deforestation in my country. I truly wish to see people actively and independently, even through small actions, contribute to a clearer environment in the future, rather than solely relying on the authorities to take steps. Hence, I decided to include sustainability and climate action in my vision of Europe in the future. I hope that all of us Europeans will have the opportunity to witness the realization of this vision in the near future, and with a bit of luck, I believe the picture will be even more beautiful!
Honorable mentions
13 to 14 category
Paula García Jiménez
Country: Spain
Mahasin, Mohamed and Fatima Ismail
Country: Ireland
15 to 16 category
Abril Albert
Country: Spain
Júlia Castañé and Nora Llinàs
Country: Spain
Jana Farrés Magín
Country: Spain
Ainara Ayuso Velo and Aaron Arjonilla Loureiro
Country: Spain
17 to 19 category
Alexandru Irina Mihaela
Country: Romania
Domenico Gallo and the students of the 5th class of the ITE of Viggianello
Country: Italy
We thank each and every one who participated in the contest and are looking forward to meeting the winners in January 2024!
