Winners

Greece – Europe on the ground

Parliament President Martin Schulz said of the winning project: ‘Personally, I like the Europe on the ground project because it brings cultural diversity in Europe to life, promotes multilingualism and contributes to the development of a European public sphere. We need more European debates on European issues if we want to strengthen European democracy. ... There is a growing awareness of how much we depend on each other, how much we are intertwined. ... The Greek winner of the Youth Charlemagne Prize is helping to create a more European public sphere.’

‘Europe on the ground’ is an innovative youth media project. Every year, multicultural teams of over 50 young journalists and amateur photographers are sent to 10 European capitals. The young people then have four days to write articles and produce photo series on topics related to European culture and society. All contributions are edited by journalists and published in six languages in the European online magazine www.cafebabel.com.

Hungary - Cycle Me Home

The ‘Cycle me Home Project’ received third prize. The project began in 2011 with a group of film students cycling from Madrid to Budapest, which was captured in a documentary film. The organisers want to create an interactive website through which anyone interested can get involved in the project. They hope that the project will become more than just a road movie and turn into a youth movement.

In his laudatory speech for the third prize winner, Aachen's mayor Marcel Philipp said that the project was based on the idea of international understanding and that ‘the important message of this beautiful and unconventional project is to bring people closer together’.

He explained: ‘For a good future for our continent, it is extremely important to bring young people from different Member States of the European Union together, to break down barriers, to overcome obstacles and to promote European awareness through cooperation on joint projects.’