More information about the eTwinning European Prizes

Selection process

The awarding process includes the following:

1. National Quality Label phase: projects must obtain a National Quality Label (NQL). The NQL is given to projects that have reached a certain level of quality on five criteria. The evaluation is carried out by the National Support Organisation of each country

2. European Quality Label phase: projects with the National Quality Label must then also be awarded the European Quality Label  by the Central Support Service when a project meets both the following criteria:

1. The project has been nominated for the European Quality Label by at least one National Support Organisation, after a screening process. Each National Support Organisation puts forward the top-ranking National Quality Labels based on their quality score.
2. The project includes at least two partners that have received the National Quality Label.

The European Quality Labels are awarded to projects once a year and are featured on the eTwinning Portal.​

3. Application to the eTwinning European Prizes phase: teachers involved in projects which have passed the previous two stages can apply for the eTwinning European Prizes via an application form available on the eTwinning platform. The application period for the eTwinning European Prizes is usually during the months of October and November. The exact dates are communicated when the application form is launched.

4. Evaluation phase: all application entries are then evaluated via a thorough l procedure that involves jurors at national and European level as follows: 
 

• First round: National Support Organisations (NSOs) nominate projects to reach the second round. The nomination is based on the evaluation (for the criteria see Section E.) of the activities of the projects as described in the application form and on an assessment of the outputs available (for instance in the projects’ TwinSpace).
• Second round: a European Jury composed of members of NSOs selects a shortlist of projects based on the results of the first round (see evaluation criteria, Section E below.). The selection is based on the comparison of the projects nominated by each NSO under a common framework (see evaluation criteria, Section E below). The result of this step is a shortlist of projects.
• Final round: A Grand Jury including members of the European Commission, of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and of the Central Support Service gives an evaluation based on the shortlist provided by the second round and decides winners and runners-up for the various categories.

More information about the evaluation process and evaluation criteria is provided in the Frequently Asked Questions below. 

A. What are the eligibility criteria?

• To apply for the contest, users must be registered in eTwinning and be validated by the NSO. 
• The application form must be completed in its entirety (see Section C below, "What is an entry?”) and submitted before the deadline.
• The application must refer to projects that have been awarded the European Quality Label in any year of the project’s lifespan and that have been active in the previous school year.
• Projects can in principle only participate once in the eTwinning Prizes evaluation process. However, projects that have demonstrated a significant improvement and development over time may apply a second time at the discretion of the NSO of the applicant.

B. How can teachers apply?

• All the eligible members of the projects which have passed the process described above can apply for one or more projects.  
• Each project can only have one entry. Therefore, partners in each project should decide among themselves who is going to apply and submit the entry. The entry can be further enriched by the other members of the project.
• Entries are submitted by clicking the link available on the eTwinning platform. 
• The information submitted should be exhaustive. Also, applicants are encouraged to draft the application with a word processor and paste the text into the application form when ready. This will also allow them to share the entry with the partners before submitting it.

C. What is an entry?

An entry is the result of the application form which is submitted by an applicant and which refers to an eTwinning project (see above for eligibility). The project must have tangible outcomes that give evaluators a concrete idea of the project’s value, process and results. Each entry has the following elements:

• Project’s details
• Applicant’s details
• Age category 
• Descriptions of the various elements of the projects as defined by the criteria present in the application form and which are consistent with the criteria of the National Quality Label 
• Links and documents to project outcomes. Submitters are encouraged to publish as much of their work as possible while taking into account data protection and copyright issues. Evaluators do not have access to restricted materials, such as private TwinSpaces.

D. What are the general rules? Are there reasons to be excluded?

• Entries submitted to the eTwinning Prizes competition are subject to the copyright policy of eTwinning, which is subject to Creative Commons 4.0. This means that their reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged, except where otherwise stated. Where prior permission must be obtained for the reproduction of information, such permission shall cancel the aforementioned general permission and shall clearly indicate any restrictions on use.
• As for all eTwinning activities, also eTwinning projects must adhere to theeTwinning Code of Conduct. Projects’ members who violate the code are subject to the consequences described in SectionD of the Code of Conduct, "Violation of the Code of Conduct”, which may also affect the project itself.
• In line with Articles 136 and 141 of the EU Financial Regulation  - eTwinning shall exclude a contestant of whom has been established that s/he is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the teaching profession, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on his/her professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following: 

1. fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility or selection criteria or in the implementation of the legal commitment; 
2. entering into agreement with other persons or entities with the aim of distorting competition; 
3. violating intellectual property rights; 
4. attempting to influence the decision-making of the authorising officer responsible during the award procedure; 
5. attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure.

The participants in this contest are solely responsible for the activities carried out under the project which is the subject of the award.

In case of failure to comply with the aforementioned rules, as well as data privacy, copyright and plagiarism rules, candidate teachers and their projects will not be considered as valid entries, and as a result, will be excluded from the competition.

E. What are the evaluation criteria taken into account? 

Evaluators of the first round (from NSOs) and second round (European Jury) will consider the following criteria:

• Pedagogical innovation: how aspects of the projects can be considered more innovative and creative regarding content and objectives, the approach, activities and methodology, final products, dissemination and publication.
• Curricular integration: how the project was integrated into the curriculum.
• Collaboration between partner schools: how each member of the project contributed to its development by working together with the other members.
• Use of technology: how the project made use of ICT tools creatively.
• Results, impact and documentation: what outcomes and benefits resulted from the project’s activities and how they were disseminated beyond the members.

In the third and last round, the grand jury takes into consideration several elements from the previous evaluation such as the overall quality of the project, its replicability, the level of collaboration among partners from different countries, the relevance of the topics treated, etc.

F. What is the final prize?

Only those partners who have received a European Quality Label for the winning project will be officially awarded if their project wins.

The Prize includes the following:

• A number* of eligible teachers of the winning and runner-up projects in all age categories will be invited by the European Commission to participate in one of the events organized by the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. The cost of participation in the chosen event will be entirely funded by the European Commission: travel and accommodation of prize winners are directly arranged by the Central Support Service.
• For the winning projects in all age categories: all eligible partner and their students of the winner projects in the main categories will receive:
  • A trophy and a certificate for all the members of the project, 
  • A certificate for their schools 
  • A certificate for their students 
  • A token of appreciation to be defined on a yearly basis depending on budget availability
• For the runner-up projects in all age categories, all eligible partners of the runner-up projects will receive:
  • A trophy and a certificate for the teachers
  • A token of appreciation to be defined on a yearly basis depending on budget availability

*The number of the participant beneficiaries are subject to budget availability.

NB These prizes for teachers and students are subject to budget availability. The eTwinning Steering Committee overseeing the implementation of the project will confirm on a yearly basis the final prize. This information will be shared on this very page and disseminated as widely as possible.