AER Award
Communicating Europe 2008

Centre and Heves win AER Award

The French region of Centre and the Hungarian region of Heves have been awarded the AER Award "Communicating Europe" at the General Assembly in Tampere 2008.

The Jury's statement:

The award in the 2nd category “Regional Media” goes to the French Region of  Centre (France), “La semaine de l’Europe en region Centre”. The Centre region organised a full week of activities focusing on Europe. During a festive opening weekend, the region’s capital was decorated with European colours and a European village of information stands set up. A European music scene, cinema and graffiti added a diverse and lively atmosphere to the city. The regional press were involved throughout thanks to a special press kit, press conference and advertising in the regional newspaper.

The jury’s statement: The project is a great example of dedicated and effective regional communication with citizens. The project received excellent regional news coverage (20 newspaper articles). Thanks to the region’s commitment to European affairs and the active involvement of the president, the interest and participation of ordinary citizens secured a successful and AER award-winning campaign in the category “Regional Media.”

The prize in the 3rd category "Children and Youth" goes to the Hungarian Region of Heves (Hungary), “Europe classrooms”. The project has created special EU classrooms within a network of schools in the region. Included in the project are debates, competitions and films, as well as the involvement of pupils, teachers, parents and grandparents. Each class features an opening ceremony with song, dance and other European cultural performances. The children’s knowledge about Europe has tangibly improved, as they score higher on EU quizzes than their peers from other schools.

The Jury’s statement: This project shows just how much can be done with a very small budget. It has a high regional impact and helps to develop children’s awareness of European issues from an early age. The Heves region has fully deserved the AER Communicating Europe Award in the category “Children and Young People”. 

In the 1st Category, the Lisbon Treaty the AER received only two applications in the Lisbon Treaty category, and the jury considered neither one of them up to award standard.

The jury’s statement: The disappointing showing in the Lisbon Treaty category suggests two things – the European regions are reluctant to communicate the Lisbon Treaty to citizens, and the EU has failed in convincing them to do so. They should therefore work together on a joint strategy to present the treaty to citizens with ground-up campaigns featuring creativity, clarity and conviction.

Who was evaluating the projects and initiatives?

To evaluate the received projects the AER Secretariat was collaborating with a Jury which was composed of media experts: a representativ from the regional newspaper Glas Istre in Croatia, Claudia Huber, media expert at the Institut for Media and Communication Policy in Berlin, Maria Laura Fracciosi-Thuburn and Giuseppe Zaffuto, European Journalism Centre in Brussels as well as the Spokesman and Director of Communications of the Assembly of European Regions, Richard Medic.