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The Winners of the SALTO Awards 2023 Are…

12 October 2023

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The SALTO Awards, the annual contest promoting great projects all over Europe, culminated in the SALTO Awards 2023 Ceremony last week, marking its 4th edition.

This year’s ceremony was held on Thursday 5 October 2023 in the framework of the Lublin Triangle Youth Event in Lublin, Poland, the European Youth Capital 2023, and was live-streamed on YouTube.

More than 200 projects were nominated in the 5 categories of the SALTO Awards 2023. These projects were evaluated by 18 jury members who selected the best 15 projects that became the SALTO Awards finalists featured at the ceremony. Additionally, a special mention prize was announced at the end of the ceremony to highlight a project for its “Competence Development” dimension.

Find out who the winners in the different categories are and get inspired by these great projects funded by Erasmus+ or the European Solidarity Corps programmes.

Digital Transformation

Winner

The Spirit of Europe – Origins is an innovative video game which follows the story of Europe throughout some key historical periods: Ancient Greece, The Roman Empire, the Migration Period, The Viking Age, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The game presents these key ages in 13 maps. It provides learning through a large variety of methods: digital interfaces, videos, images, text, maps and navigation, diagrams, systematic progression, decision-making, etc.

Finalists

eEarlyCare-T is an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and innovative project focused on updating the training of practising and new professionals in the field of early childhood care (ages 0-6 years). The training activities apply innovative teaching methodologies based on the use of different technological formats such as avatars, gamification, laboratories and virtual reality.

VRTEACHER project (Virtual Reality-based Training to improvE digitAl Competences of teacHERs) aimed to bridge the gap between theoretical training and real-world classroom experiences. By immersing educators in realistic virtual reality (VR) scenarios, the VRTEACHER project enhanced their empathy, problem-solving skills, and crisis management abilities.

The jurors of this category were Bojana Nikic,Panu Räsänen and Veronica Stefan. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

Inclusion & Diversity

Winner

Solidarity Coffee is a project run by adults with intellectual disabilities. A team of five young people is spreading a message of solidarity through a coffee cup in a cafeteria. By serving coffee and desserts at events, not only do they learn how to be baristas, but they are also sending a message to the public that they have equal possibilities.

  • Coordinator / Host: Jaunuoliu Dienos Centras (Lithuania) 
  • Programme / Action: European Solidarity Corps / Solidarity Projects (ESC30) | Read more
  • More information: Facebook / Instagram

Finalists

IncluSTEM is a strategic partnership program between three European universities, which addresses and aims to solve two societal issues: first, the slow inclusion of highly skilled migrants and refugees into European society and labour market, and second, the demand for STEM and IT professionals of the increasingly digital labour market. By implementing a quadruple helix model integrating stakeholders from academia, industry, government, and civil society, the project will develop a model to build inclusive higher education institutions for students with a migration background.

  • Coordinator: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) (Spain)
  • Programme / Key Action: Erasmus+ / KA203 | Read more
  • More information: https://inclustem.eu/

Roma HEALTH Care II project aims at improving the health situation of Roma in the partner countries by raising the share of Roma obtaining health insurance, increasing the number of Roma making use of available cancer prevention measures, decreasing the number of addicted Roma respectively to those who are threatened by addictions, improving their vaccination status, reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and the risk of venereal diseases, improving their dental hygiene and raising the number of Roma who regularly go in for sports and eat healthier.

  • Coordinator: JugendStil e.V. (Germany)
  • Programme / Key Action: Erasmus+ / KA204 | Read more
  • More information: Facebook

The jurors of this category were Daniel Gismera, Petar Dukić and Petra Habulin. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

Environment & Fight Against Climate Change

Winner

The Eco Echo Workshops project is a series of six workshops that use non-formal methods to deliver information about our environmental crisis. The workshops were designed to respond to the need of young people to obtain valuable information and be encouraged and empowered to take action regarding environmental protection, climate change, and sustainability. 

Finalists

1st Sustainability School Cup is a student-led programme of activities focused on building ecology awareness and nurturing personal social and environmental responsibility. It involved clean-up days, composting workshops, professional presentations, poster competitions, and idea contests in the field of environmental protection.

  • Coordinator / Host: KÖSZ Kisvárosi Önkéntes Szemétszedők Egyesülete / Small Town Voluntary Garbage Collectors Association (Hungary)
  • Programme / Action: European Solidarity Corps / Solidarity Projects (ESC30) | Read more
  • More information: https://fenntarthatosagikupa.hu/aktualitasok/

SpaceBuzz – Creating Ambassadors for Planet Earth project addresses young children and aims at changing their view of planet Earth. The beauties and preciousness of our planet are pointed out to them so that they realise how fortunate we are to live on such a gem. The highlight is a “trip” out into space (thanks to VR technology) where children see planet Earth from outer space. The idea is that astronauts say that the moment you actually see the planet floating in the universe, it changes your view of planet Earth and life. The project ends with the children actually initiating small projects or small changes at their schools so that they realise they can have an impact.

The jurors of this category were Alexander Theis Kjærby Andersen, Jemma Lee and Zsófia Nagy. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

Participation in Democratic Life

Winner

nEU Citizenship is a groundbreaking initiative that empowers Greek youth to become change-makers and active citizens in their communities and beyond. It aims to revitalise public dialogue and encourage the active participation of young people in civil society and decision-making. Through education, training and networking opportunities, the project equips Greek youth with the skills and tools they need to drive positive change and tackle the challenges facing their communities and the world today. The project is based on the concept of “twin transformation,” which encompasses both green and digital transformation to help young people shape a greener, more inclusive and sustainable future.

Finalists

Democracy Camp 2023 – Democracy, Sustainability and Intersectionality is an intercultural exchange focusing on democracy, sustainability, and intersectionality. Promoting political participation among young people, the group explores which participation tools are available and how they can be used to promote sustainability and inclusion. Participants expand their understanding of political structures and the role of the EU, as well as project fundraising, implementation,  and campaigning. The Camp promotes a culture of discussion and understanding around democratic principles among youth and raises their awareness of intersectional insights.

First Steps addresses the problem that young people in the area of the City of Slatina have been neglected for years as relevant participants in local society, which in turn creates dissatisfaction among young people with life in the local community. This project gathers decision-makers in the City of Slatina, local development agencies and communities that work with young people to build a good foundation for future cooperation with young people and effect necessary policy changes related to the city’s young population.

The jurors of this category were Gvantsa Tvaliashvili, Marlene Mayer and Tine Šteger. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

Solidarity & Volunteering

Winner

Leaders of Solidarity is a Polish solidarity project aiming to activate young people in fostering social integration and inclusion by including refugees from Ukraine through initiatives in their local community. The project is hosted in Zabrze, a post-industrial city associated with coal mining. Young volunteers of the Oratory Community Center starting their civic engagement journey were engaged to independently design an event, “Soldarność Picnic”, to improve the integration of Ukrainian refugees into their local community.

  • Coordinator / Host: Leaders Don Bosco – Non-formal group of young people (Poland)
  • Programme / Action: European Solidarity Corps / Solidarity Projects (ESC30) | Read more
  • More information: Instagram

Finalists

Beauty Around Us project builds upon a previous initiative of the same group of volunteers who visited Bulgarian nursing home residents just after the pandemic to collect stories from them and help improve their environment. The volunteers observed that there is a strong need for the elderly to communicate with people outside their nursing homes, including young people, in order to combat the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Project activities consisted of 14 finger painting workshops organised entirely by the volunteers themselves for more than 50 elderly people.

Project Friendship is a group of 12 volunteers with fewer opportunities from all over Europe, who arrived in the small city of Kokkola in Finland to work in local schools mostly located in rural areas with kids of different ages on the theme of Friendship. The volunteers planned and implemented functional activities and workshops with the idea of developing interaction skills and learning about friendship as a concept and an important part of life.

The jurors of this category were Andreea Buzec, Emma Mavric and Julia Leszkowicz. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

SPECIAL MENTION: Competence Development

#SMILE, which stands for Sport, Motivation, Inclusion, Leadership, Engagement, is an innovative approach to reinforce the status of people with intellectual disabilities as European citizens entitled to freedom of movement and residence through participation in national and international grassroots sports activities. #SMILE initiative exemplifies the practical application of EU commitments to ensure that persons with disabilities have the same rights as others, in line with the horizontal objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme to promote inclusion and diversity in all areas of education, training, youth, and sport. It serves as a model for incorporating a highly disadvantaged group into international activities, demonstrating the power of sports to foster inclusion.

The jurors of this category were Dick Smit, Joaquim Castro de Freitas and Karmen Murn. You can read more about them on saltoawards.eu.

 

Many thanks to all the participants, jury members and partners for contributing to the SALTO Awards 2023! Together let’s keep recognising, promoting and getting inspired by some of the great projects funded every year by the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes!

Authors

Participation Pool | Resources on Youth Participation & Media Literacy
SALTO Participation & Information

SALTO Participation and Information Resource Centre (SALTO PI) develops strategic and innovative action to encourage participation in democratic life.