The Charlemagne Youth Prize is a honorable prize that is awarded each year to youth projects in Europe for their added value to society. AEGEE is not a stranger to the prize, having been awarded several times before, for example for Europe on Track in 2013. AEGEE-Valletta won the national edition of the Charlemagne Youth Prize for their European Planning Meeting (EPM) the following year.AEGEE-Sofia presented the Night of Seven Antennae (N7A) this year and won the first step, the national one. We asked some questions to Ivaylo Bogomilov, the main organiser of the N7A in Sofia.

The AEGEEan: How did it feel to win the national competition of the Charlemagne Youth Prize?

Ivaylo: If I may tell you the truth, it was great stress till the last moment. Everything that you are expecting is really bad, you have this feeling of impatience, but this time it was even worse, because it was not just AEGEE-Sofia’s project, there were six more locals involved – Aachen, Bergamo, Catania, Eskişehir, Kyïv and Leiden. So after a long time of waiting (at least for us), on a Monday, AEGEE-Sofia got the email that we were the winners. It was really great! I was in Catania and I got the information first, so I called everyone to tell them that we won. It was really amazing, I cannot describe it with words. Maybe one of the best moments was when Kristalina Georgieva (Vice-President of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources ) shared the news of winning the National Prize and said that she was proud that in Europe and in Bulgaria there are such youth organisations as AEGEE.

Describe the Night of Seven Antennae, the project you submitted.

The “Night of the Seven Antennae” project was a live streamed conference on the 18th of April 2015 that connected seven simultaneous events happening in seven different parts within and outside the European Union, providing the participants of the event with a five-hour-long live steam, where they could discuss and share relevant findings of their respective three-day conferences focusing on the topic: Europe in me – me in Europe.

The topic of the event in Sofia was “Europe needs youth!”. For three days, Sofia became the place where young people had the opportunity to explore their daily life habits and contributions to society. The event gathered a lot of Bulgarian youth organisations, young people from all around Europe, informal and youth groups, which had the chance to talk about the world, in which they live and of which they dream, and to share for which kind of Europe they would fight for. The event gave an opportunity for discussions with decision-makers, stakeholders, with leaders in youth and  the NGOs sector. The event not only shows structured dialogue in practice, but also shows the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle.

The Night of Seven Antenna was a precious initiative, what was the best moment of it?

For sure the N7A was an amazing event. As a main organiser from AEGEE-Sofia, I know how much effort all locals put in to realise the event. So, there were a lot of amazing moments; it will be really hard to mention just one. The most memorable moment for me was 10 minutes before the live stream, we had to do tests for sound and camera and everything – I remembered how my heart was beating. However, the worst was that our participants were still not at the place where the live stream would take place, because they were running late from the sports tournament. But three minutes before the live stream, everyone was there, so in the end everything went well. [He smiles, ed.]

Still the impact of the event was really great, so I hope that we will not stop expanding on its success. In the Europe, that we are living in now, we need more events like The Night of Seven Antennae, just to remember what Europe is all about.

When will be the final selection? Is someone going to Aachen?

It will be from 2nd till 5th of May and there will be a whole three-day-program in Aachen. I heard that on the last night the party will be organised by AEGEE-Aachen, because they are the best at this. The awarding ceremony will be on the 3rd of May, so be prepared to cross your fingers.

It is really a pity, but only one person can go as the official, representing Bulgaria. But I know that a lot of AEGEE people from all over Europe will come for the award ceremony.

What are the new projects of AEGEE-Sofia?

We have a lot of plans for new projects. For now we know that we will have an amazing Travel Summer University  (Bulgaria: Lost in Time and Space), also two Local Training Courses and we will again organise our local forum, “The Egg”. If you still did not hear about it, last year we won the award for best youth project in Bulgarian, given by the Ministry of Education and science. As for the other projects, we will keep them secret, at least for now [he winks, ed.].

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

As every year, the European Charlemagne Youth Prize (ECYP) took place in the city of Aachen, under its 7th edition. After Europe on Track’s major success last year, some AEGEE members gathered in Charlemagne’s city in order to know which project would be its successor. Youth unemployment, selfies, remarkable guests, journalism and the situation in Ukraine have just been some of the major highlights of this event that took place in late May.

1. Our Europe takes the legacy of its predecessor, Europe on Track

Peter Laugesen (Our Europe), with VP of the European Parliament, Anni Podimata

Denmark was the winner of this year’s edition of the Charlemagne Youth Prize, with the project Vores Europa (‘Our Europe’). This project consisted of a 12-month long journey taken by Peter Laugesen and Elena Askløf, who travelled through 24 European countries and interviewed young people about their expectations and wishes for Europe. They published radio podcasts, films, articles, interviews and pictures on their website, and even took up a experimental Skype session in collaboration with 21 Danish schools, involving 2,800 young students whom the creators talked to. It was a truly outstanding project, self-funded by its own creators and it was certainly one of the ‘favourite ones’ to achieve the biggest prize.

The story of Our Europe might seem familiar to many of you… yes! Many of us recalled the Europe on Track project of AEGEE-Europe, which won last year’s Charlemagne Youth Prize. Looks like the recipe for success in a ECYP candidature is very simple: involve young people from several countries, talk about their concerns and reach the policy-makers with audiovisual material and social media.

2. Youth (un)employment, the hottest topic

The three winners: Denmark, the Netherlands and Cyprus

One of the biggest topics addressed by the Danish Our Europe project was with no doubts youth unemployment, which has reached staggering figures in countries such as Spain or Italy. However, this topic was the main issue by several of the 28 projects presented. Both the second and third place winners of the ECYP, the Netherlands and Cyprus, had youth unemployment as their focus.

On the one hand, JouwDelft & Co., the Dutch national winner, hosted a European youth congress in November 2012 which aimed to find local-scale solutions to reduce youth unemployment in Europe and brought young active citizens and policy advisors from several countries together. The outcome of the conference was a resolution on these recommendations, which was issued to the European Parliament in November 2013. On the other hand, Youth Dynamics is a Cypriot youth organisation that hosted a training course in April 2013 that involved seminars, presentations, workshops and discussions based on the same topic, gathering 26 participants from nine EU countries.

3. EBM Valleta, our AEGEE Representative

Mariella getting the award in Aachen

Mariella Rapa (AEGEE-Valletta) was the representative of AEGEE in the list of nominees for the final Youth Prize, representing the European Boards’ Meeting that took place in Valletta in February 2013, which gathered around two hundred AEGEEans under the topic of ‘the future of Europe’.

Previously interviewed by our journalist Cosmina Bisboaca (AEGEE-Torino), AEGEE-Valletta stated that it was “a very big honour” to be the National winner in Malta, especially taking into account that other strong organisations such as JEF Malta submitted their projects too.

Chucky Bartolo told Cosmina the reasons why EBM Valletta decided to run for the Charlemagne Youth Prize: “The organising team that worked on the EBM spent a lot of their time and energy to make the event as great as it could be. Knowing that we had worked so hard to make an event like this meant that we were able to recognise that the EBM was worth submitting. Inspired by the success of “Europe on Track”, we submitted the project for the Charlemagne Youth Prize”. Despite not making it to the ‘final three’, Mariella got the National Award out of the hands of Anni Podimata (vice-president of the European Parliament), and showed the pride of the whole local for being among the 28 finalists.

4. Youth at the back… but not afraid to ask

The 28 national winners of the Charlemagne Youth Prize were afterwards invited at the Charlemagne Forum, which gathered several ‘top’ guests. Unfortunately, the young representatives were forced to be sitting in the back, whereas the jury and guests were right on the front, sitting comfortably and having snacks and drinks next to them. For many, that was the vivid image that young people were merely playing a secondary role in this Charlemagne Prize, but we were not afraid to take the driver’s seat, ask questions and confront the opinion of the older experts… even if we had to stand up and there was no microphone available for us at first.

Especially significant was the speech given by Luis Alvarado Martínez, president of AEGEE-Europe and representative of Europe on Track as the ECYP winner of 2013, who encouraged the organisers of the Charlemagne Youth Prize to involve young people more actively: “It’s them who should be sitting on the front”. Moreover, he suggested the idea of them selecting the winners of the ECYP – after all, what is a ‘youth prize’ if it is not selected by youth representatives?

5. ‘Top’ guests… taking AEGEEan’s selfies

“A selfie is the picture you take yourself, right?”

Besides Ms. Podimata, who was replacing the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, there were other remarkable guests among the visitors in Aachen. One of them was the former president of the European Central Bank, mr. Jean-Claude Trichet, who was taking part at the panel discussion of the Charlemagne Forum. But specially striking was the appearance in the middle of the Forum of Herman van Rompuy, president of the European Council. During the question round, two AEGEE members (Anna, from AEGEE-Barcelona, and Erik, from AEGEE-Bratislava) were sending their questions to the pannelists, when all of a sudden people started to applause. Van Rompuy arrived, the question round was interrupted and he gave his speech where several topics such as the previous Sunday’s EP elections were tackled.

In fact, Mr. Van Rompuy embarked in a small inter-generational dialogue with our AEGEEans Luis and Mariella, when they asked to take a selfie with him. “You mean, the picture that you take yourself, right?”, rumour has it that he asked.

6. The situation in Ukraine in the Charlemagne Youth Prize

Once Herman Van Rompuy had arrived at the Forum, Luis asked him about the situation in Ukraine, and he gave an answer paraphrasing Tolstoy (“we, Europe and Russia, have one thing in common – Christianity”), that our member of AEGEE-Bratislava, Erik Redli, reported perfecty in his article at Foreign Students.

Those were not the only remarkable guests of the week – in the Charlemagne Prize ceremony, there were the prime ministers of Moldova and Ukraine, Iurie Leanca and Arseniy Yatseniuk, right on the aftermath of the Ukrainian elections. In fact, the event gathered a few hundreds of protesters from Ukraine and Russia in the main square of Aachen, protesting against the war – but from different sides. Both were divided into two blocks and the police had to intervene, as reported by our friend from OneEurope Yuliya Kosharevska, even though there were no major incidents.

7. AEGEE-Aachen and OneEurope, a top cooperation for a ‘top event’

A journalists’ “newsroom” moment

Under the special request of the city council of Aachen, AEGEE-Aachen organised a ‘side event’ for journalists who would cover the Charlemagne Youth Prize for their national media and other internet platforms, in order to give more visibility to a prize which has proven to be of a major importance. Our ‘polar bears’ seeked the cooperation with the OneEurope magazine, who also reported actively about the happenings in Aachen and brought their expertise in journalism.

The atmosphere between AEGEE and OneEurope members was great and it truly felt like a real newsroom sometimes. Moreover, AEGEE-Aachen provided a wonderful social programme with a city tour around the city, a party with the national winners of the ECYP… and the members of OneEurope could experience for the first time what a European Night was. Congratulations, AEGEE-Aachen, and thank you for such an effort!

And next year… it can be you! This year’s Charlemagne Youth Prize event has proven that a project that gathers young people from several European countries, that deals with some of the ‘hot’ topics in European youth and also involves policy-makers and advisors can be eligible to win. It is acknowledged that we have taken part in many AEGEE projects with a big potential that comply with these same characteristics. So, what are you waiting for? Maybe the next Charlemagne Prize could be in AEGEE’s hands again!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

WATCH OUT!! WILD BEARS!!

Aachen

Bear

Can

Do

ES1

About the city of Aachen

The Alphabet starts with an A and so does Aachen. The city with the double A in the beginning is always the first on the list because of its name. But also its University, the RWTH, a University of Technology which ranks as one of the best in Europe in technical sciences, such as city planning or its big pride, mechanical engineering. In English and French also known as Aix-la-Chapelle, Aachen’s roots date back to the Romans, who came to the thermal springs and built their bath houses there. Later on, King Charlemagne made Aachen his favoured winter residence and centre of power, due to the geographic location and of course, the great spa opportunities.

Nowadays, Aachen is populated by more than 35 000 students and has an awesome nightlife, with plenty of options for students. Since the university has a technical focus, there are only around 30 % female students in Aachen, and most of them are to be found at the university hospital, which is located outside the city.

About the host local

AEGEE-Aachen was founded in 1987 and is proud to have around 120 members at the moment. For over 20 years we have been part of the Summer University project, organising an advanced language course in German, which is well known throughout the AEGEE network. Last year, we were ranked 2^nd place in all Summer University courses. Another important part of our antenna’s activities is the leisure program, which is organised for the 500 ERASMUS exchange students coming annually to Aachen. We offer many trips and events, ranging from cultural excursions to legendary parties. We help the new arriving students to take a fast step into the social life in Aachen, as well as assist them in university matters.

Since the EuroArab project in 2010 we did not organise any greater European Event in Aachen, but our members came back with flaming motivation from the European School 1 (ES1) in Passau. That is why our antenna’s board decided to go forward with this inspiring event, as it provides quality to the Network, working as a knowledge and motivation multiplier for participants and organisers from Aachen.

“ES1 is where AEGEE activists make the magic happen for the first time. Where fresh, idealistic, motivated and eager-to-change ideas are born. ES1 is the place where our new generations of leaders start their way in the youth voluntary world.” Luis Alvarado Martinez

(Manager of ES1 Passau and President of AEGEE-Europe in 2012/13)

What is this European School?

Every year, the Network offers its members the unique opportunity to attend a compact, intensive course on the basics of all skills necessary to carry out successful projects within AEGEE and experience a life changing week together with students from all over Europe.

There are different types of courses: the ones giving an overview on different thematic opportunities (like ES1 and 2) and those focusing on a specific topic and going in depth. Here we find the Public Relations European School (PRES), or the Summer University Project School (SUPS).

The European School 1 (ES1) is known for covering all of the important areas. It offers a great boost of AEGEE knowledge for motivated members, with not so much experience yet. Throughout the ES1, participants will be equipped with a variety of skills and working tools to initiate and coordinate international projects in their local, as well as to use in their personal life.

Furthermore, they can practice everything they have learned in a simulation and gather their first experience in working in an international team. You will decide upon a project together and develop fundraising plans, followed by fundraising interviews; you will create budgets and design your own project outline.

ES1 in November 2012

The next European School 1 will take place in November, in Aachen. The organisers have been preparing everything for months now, the accommodation is set and the university has granted great support! Also, the famous AEGEE-Aachen Bears are going to show up from time to time. The polar bears from AEGEE-Aachen run around free and love guiding a crowd trough the city as well as long party nights. They will also be a part of the European School.

With the great experience of the best trainers in AEGEE – coming from the AEGEE Academy – and external guests, we want to enable all participants to develop projects in their antennae, motivate them to become active and inspire them related to what they can do. The planning of the ES1 is running smoothly and the trainer crew is already awaiting your applications!

Why wait? Apply now!

So, if you want to come to the land of wizards and bears, feel the awesome spirit in the atmosphere and get enchanted by the magic of the trainers:  APPLY for the European School in Aachen.

Take the chance and experience a life changing event: European School 1!

An enthusiastic local is awaiting you in Aachen!

Apply now at: www.aegee-aachen.org/ES1

Written by Patrick Scholz, AEGEE-Aachen