Winners of the competition “Who gets carried away by Europe” awarded

2015-06-16

On Saturday 6 June, the German Junge Akademie jointly with the Young Academy of Sweden and a number of young partner academies in Europe awarded prizes for the best answers to their prize question “Who Gets Carried Away by Europe?”.

The first prize went to Christine Lehnen from Germany for her short story “Zeus/Europa”. Lehnen impressed the jury with a highly condensed text in which she applies the ancient myth to the current situation of refugees in the Mediterranean. Krzysztof Usakiewicz from Poland received the second prize for his captivating report “Do zakopania jeden krok”/“Not Just For Kicks”, which presents the football project “Ethnoleague” from Warsaw. The third prize was awarded to the photo report “Drømmen om Europa/The European Dream” by Line Zachariasen and Lisa Staugaard from Denmark. The students offer arresting images of refugee centres in Sicily.

Two Special Prizes Awarded

In addition to the main prizes, two special prizes were given out. The Advancement Award went to Moritz Alexander Klein from Germany for his ambitious text “Reisevorbereitungen”/“Preparations for a Journey”, in which he approaches the European myth in a critical as well as personal manner. The special prize for the Best Collaborative Project was awarded to Giacomo Bertazzoli, Pauline Buffin, Gustavo Dantas, Guy Frankel, Chloe Weiss, and Christoph Wiest, a group of ERASMUS students from Sweden, for their video entry “Who gets carried away by Europe? – ERASMUS”. The jury paid a compliment to their enthusiastic view of Europe.

The special prize for the Best Collaborative Project: “Who gets carried away by Europe? – ERASMUS” by a group of ERASMUS students from Sweden.

The Best Entries

On the evening of the award ceremony, visitors had the opportunity to see an exhibition of the best entries and learn more about the wide spectrum of answers to the prize question. The winners also took part in a Q&A during a Late-Night Lounge on Europe. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz, president of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and member of the board of trustees of the sponsor Commerzbank Foundation emphasized the importance of inspiring young people to do research work. “Recognising their achievements in the way the Junge Akademie does by the competition ‘Who Gets Carried Away by Europe?”’ is part of that inspiration”, according to Olbertz. “In particular, acclaiming and supporting inventive ideas in the science area and the arts can help young people to cope with today’s and future challenges.”

The prize question is a joint project of the young academies of Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Scotland, Denmark, Poland, and Belgium (Flanders).

The prizes for the Who gets carried away by Europe-competition were awarded with support from the Commerzbank Foundation.

More information

The European Prize Question Länk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster.