An exciting new all-Ireland competition, My Vision for Europe, was launched in Ireland this week. The competition invites teams of Irish Transition Year students to create and record short videos representing their vision for the European Union, in response to one of four challenges. The teams will then load their entries onto a website at www.myvisionforeurope.com.
Launching the competition, Francis Jacobs, Head of the European Parliament Office in Ireland said 'I am looking forward to viewing the entries submitted by the students and in particular to engaging with the finalists when they get the opportunity to present their videos to us. This competition represents an exciting and innovative departure for us and we hope that it will become an annual event.'
The My Vision for Europe competition is inspired by the EYou Schools Competition, previously organised by the Irish National Forum on Europe. Andrea Pappin, Executive Director of the European Movement Ireland, said that 'we are so happy to have been able to save such an integral part of the National Forum on Europe's work.'
The competition
The teams of students will be asked to register for the competition by Friday, 4 December. The registered teams will receive a Europe Pack, which will include the four challenges to be addressed (each team will pick one), further information about the EU and a 'how to' guide to the competition. The teams will then submit their entries at www.myvisionforeurope.com by Friday, 29 January.
One team from each of the four European Parliament Constituencies in the Republic of Ireland and two teams from the Northern Ireland Constituency will then be selected to take part in the finals in Dublin in March, during which they will get the opportunity to present their Vision for Europe. The Irish MEPs will participate in the selection process.
The two winning teams will be invited to bring their classmates (25 in total) to Strasbourg to participate in the European Parliament's Euroscola project. This project allows students from the EU's 27 Member States to work together for a day, as the MEPs would in the European Parliament.
My Vision for Europe is organised by a partnership of organisations, including the European Parliament Office in Ireland, the European Movement Ireland, the European Studies programme, Community Relations in Schools (CRIS) and the Michael Sweetman Trust. The project is supported by TalktoEU and by Léargas.
