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SME Week Youth Essay Competition 2020 – 5th edition launch
July
17
2020
Do you have an opinion on the role that entrepreneurs can play in reshaping our future economy? Perhaps you have interesting ideas about what the EU needs to do to help entrepreneurs? Then this is the opportunity for you!
The SME Week Youth Essay Competition is launching for the fifth time with a brand new question for the youth of Europe to answer:
What do SMEs need to become sustainable and resilient, in the context of COVID-19 and other global challenges? How can EU policy best aid entrepreneurs?
The Youth Essay competition is organised by the European Commission Directorate General for Single Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, and is an opportunity for 18-25 year olds to share their ideas and viewpoints with key figures and stakeholders in the spheres of enterprise, entrepreneurship and SMEs.
Sound like an opportunity for you? All you need to do to have a chance at winning an all-expenses paid trip to the SME Assembly 2020 in Berlin is to submit your essay of no more than 2 500 words in English, before 18 September 2020.
Make sure to read through the rules, contact smeweek@loweurope.eu if you have any questions, and to SUBMIT before the deadline!
Rules
- The competition is open to all 18 to 25 year olds from European Member States or COSME partners countries (see the list)
- Essays should not exceed 2 500 words in length
- All essays must be in English
- Only one entry per applicant
- The deadline for submissions is 18 September 2020
- The three finalists will be announced in October ahead of SME Week and will compete at a grand finale in Berlin as part of the SME Assembly, where they will present their essays
- The final winner will be chosen via a public vote
Prize
- An all-expenses paid trip to the SME Assembly in Berlin, Germany for the three finalists, to present their essays to 500+ Assembly delegates
- Presentation training before delivering essay live on stage at the SME Assembly 2020
- Promotion of essays across our communication channels
See Youth Essay Competition 2020 Terms and Conditions.
Follow us for competition updates on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and be sure to follow and use the hashtag #YEC2020.
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European Youth Media Days will celebrate the 10th anniversary
October
16
2017
Over 90 young journalists will gather in the European Parliament in Brussels from 16th to 18th October to take part in the European Youth Media Days (EYMD) 2017, which is one of the biggest events in Europe dedicated to young journalists and other media makers. Over the course of the three-day workshop, each participant will work to produce a report on the topic of the seminar through their medium of choice: video, photo, radio, print, multimedia or graphic design. This year’s edition will focus on topic “Modernising media – literacy, challenges and opportunities”. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the event, all participants will have an opportunity to win the EYMD Jubilee Award in several categories.
“A continuous platform for emerging journalists enthusiastic about European cooperation and European issues is an investment in the future of democracy and journalism in Europe,” EYMD 2017 Coordinator Martin Maska said.
The European Youth Media Days are a laboratory for first steps towards opening up national public spheres, cross the borders of public opinion and create an European public space. EYMD are a part of an intercultural dialogue in promoting a broad discussion and networking on European issues among young people and in creating innovative intercultural media formats under facilitation by young journalists.
Participants will experience three days of media workshops, political discussions, hands-on media production and invaluable insights into the European Parliament and international media milieu. They will get the chance to interact with high-level European politicians, professional journalists and experts, and engage in intercultural exchange through practical media production.
“The European Youth Media Days will give the freedom to critically and constructively think about, debate and journalistically cover opportunities for today’s media and challenges they face, as well as state of the art of the European media literacy,” Martin Maska said.
Topic of “Modernising media – literacy, challenges and opportunities” encompass sub-themes, such as: citizen journalism (citizens vs professionals), role of journalists in modern societies, changes in financial/editorial models, changes in the profession as such, importance of social responsible journalism.
It is also important to focus on literacy, as media literate public being able to recognise propaganda, fake news and media manipulation together with professional journalists being aware of their social responsibility are important for development of each democratic society.
“It is very important to raise people’s awareness of forces that may influence media, techniques of (mass)media manipulation and agenda setting as well as concrete cases of biased or distorted journalism,” Maska said. In his opinion it is also important to foster critical thinking and ability to decode media messages. But also that all parts of the society are represented in media, because lack of presence of minorities and youth supports polarization and stereotyped reporting.
“Besides this content, the EYMD jubilee celebrations will be an opportunity for reflecting on the developments in media field, based on experiences of the EYP network, especially from past editions of the EYMD, discussing the upcoming EYMD’s and challenges present in the media world,” Martin Maska said.
At the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the EYMD, the European Youth Press and the European Parliament will appreciate excellence in media production and essay writing. Therefore all participants will get the opportunity to submit media of their choice on the opportunities for today’s media and challenges they face, or essay on media literacy and critical thinking.
The EYMD is one of the biggest events in Europe dedicated to young journalists and other media makers. This year it will take place in the European Parliament seat in Brussels.
European Youth Media Days are organised by the European Youth Press – Network of Young Media Makers and the European Parliament.
For more information:
‘Winning has given us room to manoeuvre’ – EEPA2016 increases project credibility
January
19
2017
The European Enterprise Promotion Awards (EEPA) 2016 category winner interviews are here! Find out about the story behind these successful projects, and even pick up some of their useful tips and tricks for future applicants. Today is the turn of the Grand Jury Prize, which commends the entry that the Jury considers to be ‘the most creative and inspiring entrepreneurship initiative in Europe’. The winning project for 2016 was Entrepreneurial West Hisingen from Sweden, originally a competitor in Category 6 – Responsible and Inclusive Entrepreneurship and represented by Daniela Ölmunger in this interview, supports the city district’s reputation as a hub of opportunities and entrepreneurship. It covers three projects: Entrepreneurship in education, Start your business, and Develop your business, which provide different styles of support to various groups ranging from schoolchildren, all the way to seasoned business people.
Today’s interview gives insight into how this project became an EEPA 2016 winner, what happened next and where we can expect to see them in the future. This is just the first of several interviews so stick around to find out more about the EEPA 2016 winners in the coming weeks!
How did you first hear about the national competition?
We first heard about the national competition from the Swedish Agency for Economical and Regional Growth, Tillväxtverket. They called us and advised us to compete seeing as we were already competing for the ‘regional stars’, due to the results and lessons in the project Entrepreneurial West Hisingen.
Why did you decide to enter the national competition?
First of all I love to compete and write, I am also a project developer so I am used to working with deadlines and conducting analyses and I thought why not. It was also an honour to be asked to compete at European level, where you don’t always know what other people are doing, only that they are great projects.
How did you go about preparing your application?
Well we didn’t actually know that we were nominated until quite late, but once we did we conducted a workshop to discuss the application questions, look at different aspects of the project and consult our stakeholders to gather their opinions. Competing also gives you a chance to reflect, and we knew we had really good results but this reflective period was still very useful.
What was it like to win the award?
It was so crazy! We actually thought that we had been forgotten at first because our movie was not presented when our category was announced and then we thought that perhaps there had been an administrative mistake and that we were not actually national winners. When the Grand Jury Prize was announced I had not even thought about that category as we had all been so focused on the original category we entered, as our achievements were being read out we started to think that someone might have stolen our ideas! Once we were announced as the winners everything was a bit chaotic, I had nothing prepared for when we went up on stage, but overall it was very surprising and exciting to win.
How did winning the award immediately impact your work?
The main difference we saw was definitely in terms of political impact. Upon our return, we began receiving several visits from different parties and politicians, including the minister of finance and her team, who came for some insight and points from our project after we were first nominated. This increased political interest has led to us being more respected, and being invited to various city council groups which in turn has increased our local impact and overall our role in national political development.
Can you already see a long-term impact or do you have any expectations?
Winning this prize has helped us build our credibility and earned the respect of those around us in various circles. We are slightly unconventional in Swedish terms, but people now take notice of us and trust our opinions and views. Being winners has given us room to manoeuvre and the lasting impact will be that we can now stand up for and defend that room. This is important as we already have launched a new entrepreneurial project in Gothenburg – the EU-project One Stop Future Shop.
Why should others enter EEPA 2017? What advice would you give them?
I think that entering EEPA gives you a chance to reflect on what you have done with your project, which is work worth doing and not something we get much of an opportunity to do. You can’t always focus on what you did well yesterday, but the analysis is important and it gives you a chance to make your learning journey visible so that others can learn from it. You should not be scared to point out things that you learnt from and definitely take help from others, don’t do it all on your own. In our case we asked for the opinions of our stakeholders and learnt a lot from them during this fun and honouring process.
What are your plans for the future?
Currently we are working on One Stop Future Shop, which is based on the learnings and results from Entrepreneurial West Hisingen. In this project we are already seeing substantial results. This has a lot to do with the experiences from the previous project where we have been able to sort out what the needs are and how to contribute to making a more entrepreneurial region. In the future we hope to contribute to local growth and the creation of local companies, as well as motivate people to see that they can do anything they want to in life. Future plans depend on a lot of things, I have a lot of ideas, but maybe some of them are too innovative!
Watch the EEPA 2016 Grand Jury Prize Winner video here.
Launch of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2015
January
20
2015
Today the European Commission has launched the 2015 edition of the European Enterprise Promotion Awards, a competition to reward the most imaginative and successful initiatives from public bodies and public-private partnerships which support entrepreneurship, and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The competition officially starts today across all EU Member States and Iceland, Norway, Serbia and Turkey. In June, the two national winners from each country will be selected to compete at the European level and represent their country. Participants’ ultimate aim is to win the Grand Jury Prize, which will be announced in Luxembourg on 19 November, which is part of the SME Assembly, the main European SME Week event.
How to participate
The competition has two stages; applicants must first compete at the national level and will then be eligible to compete at the European level. For the national competition, each country will select two entries to be nominated for the European competition by June 2015.
A shortlist of nominees will be chosen by the European jury. All nominees from the national and European competitions will be invited to attend the Awards ceremony, which recognises the winners for their efforts and gives them the opportunity to present themselves in a pan-European environment.
For more information on the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in your country, visit the website, follow the Awards on Twitter in English, French, Spanish, Italian or German or visit the official Awards Facebook page.
You can also get in touch with your National Co-ordinator to find out about how to apply for the Awards in your country.
