Irish nominee announced for European Youth Prize

'Show Racism the Red Card', an intercultural camp for 11-16 year old boys and girls, has been chosen as the Irish entry for this year's Charlemagne European Youth Prize, which will be awarded in Aachen, Germany on 31 May. Isajeva Darja, a young Latvian organiser living in Ireland, submitted the project as an example of a project which brought together young people from a number of different countries, promoting an understanding among them of the values of integration and cultural diversity.

The camp took place in Glencolmcille in Donegal in July of last year and was attended by young people from Ireland, Poland, Slovenia, England, the Congo, India, Iran, Japan, Kurdistan, South Africa and the Ukraine.  The volunteers who ran the camp also came from a range of different European countries.  The participants were introduced to new languages, games and competitions. 

The Charlemagne European Youth Prize, organised on an annual basis by the European Parliament and the International Charlemagne Prize based in Aachen, Germany, provides recognition for cross-cultural projects which foster a sense of a European and international integration and understanding. 

Announcing this year's Irish nominee, Francis Jacobs, Head of the European Parliament Office in Ireland, said that the 'Show Racism the Red Card' project had been 'very successful in terms of getting children and volunteers from different cultures together and breaking down racial and cultural barriers.  The positive feedback from the young participants about the wonders of the diverse cultures they had been exposed to demonstrated the practical impact of this project.'

'Show Racism the Red Card' will now compete with the nominees from the EU's 26 other Member States for the overall Charlemagne European Youth Prize 2011.  Funding of between €2,000 and €5,000 will be awarded to the winning projects a ceremony which will take place in Aachen in Germany on 31 May 2011.

The 2010 prizes were awarded as follows:

First Prize went to the German project 'European CNC Network - Train for Europe', which brought together 24 vocational schools to build a small-gauge locomotive and wagons.

Second Prize  went to the Irish-led 'You are Here' book project, which included contributions from 14 young people across Europe. 

Third Prize went to the Bulgarian project, 'Best Engineering Competition BEC'.