@RealTimeWW1 wins 2015 European Charlemagne Youth Prize

@RealTimeWW1, a Twitter project about the First World War, has been awarded first prize at the 2015 European Charlemagne Youth Prize ceremony, organised by the European Parliament and the International Charlemagne Prize Foundation on 12 May. Second prize goes to the Fronterras-European (border) line project and the third prize jointly to Austrian, Cypriot and Spanish participants. The prize is awarded every year to projects fostering a European identity and integration among young people.

Family photo of the Charlemagne youth prize 2015 ceremony in Aachen
The prize ceremony in Aachen

First prize: @RealTimeWW1 (Luxembourg)


A project by European Contemporary History students at the University of Luxembourg. Since the start of 2014, they have been recounting life during the First World War in just a few lines on the Twitter account @RealTimeWW1.


The students described their project as: "Not as a history of winners and losers but as a time when, regardless of their nationality, many mothers suffered the same anguish over sons lying in military hospitals. A time when men on all fronts wrote similar love letters without knowing whether they would ever see their beloved again."


Second prize: Fronterras (France)


The project began with 28 young Europeans, four of whom were living on the EU's external border. They created a website bringing together tales of life on Europe’s borders and the journeys across them.


The project organisers explained their idea as following: "The abstract concept of the border becomes a reality when seen through the eyes of those who experience it on a daily basis. We want to help people discover Europe through the boundaries which were arbitrarily imposed on it long ago and which have made it the multifaceted continent it is today."

 

Third prize: jointly awarded to three different projects:


Social Soccer Cup (Austria)


An international football tournament for youth and welfare organisations from all over Europe organised by the ClickIn youth centre. The aim is to bring together young people from different European countries, to overcome prejudices and to kick-start other joint projects.


Enterpreneurschip, the Solution to Unemployment (Cyprus)


A multilateral youth exchange project that promoted discussion among the young participants. Main themes: unemployment, emigration, entrepreneurship and non-formal education.

 

Infoactualidad (Spain)


Infoactualidad is the online newspaper for the Sciences of Information Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, with 140 journalism students as reporters. Since it opened in 2012, more than 400 undergraduates have benefited from its training.


About the prize


The European Charlemagne Youth Prize aims to encourage the development of European consciousness among young people, as well as their participation in European integration projects. It is awarded jointly and annually by the European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen.


Representatives of the 28 projects which took part were invited to the award ceremony on 12 May in Aachen and were awarded a diploma and a medal. The winning projects will receive funding of €5,000, €3,000 and €2,000 respectively. Their representatives will also be invited to visit the European Parliament in Brussels in the coming months.


Follow the prize on Twitter using the @EUYouthPrize hashtag and the event with #ECYP2015.