The third edition of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize was launched today. It targets young people who have been involved with projects helping to promote understanding between peoples from different European countries. The deadline for submitting projects is 22 January 2010.

The European Charlemagne Youth Prize, which is jointly organised by the European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, is granted to projects undertaken by people between 16 and 30 years old.  The winning projects should serve as role models for young people living in Europe and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community. Youth exchange programmes, artistic and Internet projects with a European dimension are amongst the projects selected.

The three winning projects will be awarded funding of €5,000, €3,000, and €2,000 respectively. They will also be invited to visit the European Parliament.

Last year, the Polish youth project "YOUrope needs YOU!" was awarded the first prize. Through a series of high school workshops run by university students, this project uses informal methods to convey to teenagers interesting facts about Europe. The second and the third prize went to the "European Festival of university theatre of Albi" (France) and to "Gumboot Diplomacy" (Germany) respectively.

Massimo Farrugia, massimo.farrugia@europarl.europa.eu Tel: 00356 2123 5075
Nikos Salliarelis, nikos.salliarelis@europarl.europa.eu Tel: 0032-498-983326