In December 2006, four UK students and their teachers, winners of the ‘What has the EU done for me’ Competition came to Brussels to see the summit.  They shared compelling views on the EU, quizzing MEPs, Commissioners and the man in charge of running the summit.  

Turkey; Cyprus; the fight against terrorism; concerns on EU federalism; the environment; education; why young people don’t care about Europe… the winners touched on some key issues for the UK, ensuring that views from UK’s youth reached the highest level.  They also walked away with a much more informed view of just what goes on in that Brussels place.

You can read their thoughts first hand in their blogs:
www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1974764,00.html

United Kingdom Winners
Key Stage 3 (School Years 7, 8, 9 / Age 11-14)
Winner: Jack Candeland, Thorpe St Andrew’s School
Read Jack’s winning essay - Jack Candeland essay (MS Word 25KB)
Runner-up: Maisie Hutchins, Sandye Place Middle School

Key Stage 4 (School Years 10, 11 / Age 15-16)
Winner: Elizabeth Sreeves, The Ridgeway School
Read Elizabeth’s winning essay - Elizabeth Sreeves essay (MS Word 32KB)
Runner-up: Mohammad Akbar, Rokeby School

Key Stage 5 (School Years 12 and 13, age 17-18)
Winners:
Clare Burke, Bradford Grammar School
Read Claire’s winning essay - Claire Burke essay (MS Word 27KB)
Matthew Jowers, Billericay School
Read Matthew’s winning essay - Matthew Jowers essay (MS Word 38KB)
Runners – up:
Sonia Krylova, Aylesbury High School
Nicola Bartlett, St Michael’s Catholic Grammar.

Finland Winners
To find out more about the Finnish competition, please click [here] - www.britishcouncil.fi/competitioneu

• Teresa Komu, Pyhäjärvi lukio
• Lotta Punkanen, Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu
• Antto Saaremnaa, Kuninkaanhaan lukio, Pori

MEPs send their congratulations
Several of the winners’ MEPs have sent messages to congratulate them on their achievements.

Find out more about the prizewinners’ trip.

Project background
The British Council in partnership with the Hansard Society and European Commission Representation in the UK invited schools across the UK* to take part in a writing competition entitled: “What has the EU done for me?”

The aim of the competition is to stimulate debate amongst young people and enable them to consider the impact and relevance of EU membership on their everyday lives as young citizens. We provided downloadable teacher’s resource packs which contained lesson plans, fact sheets and work sheets to help  students learn more about the EU, its policies, institutions and Member States and help set the scene for a discussion in the classroom.

Entries are judged by a panel of experts and there are four winners in total (see above). As this competition coincided with the Finnish Presidency of the EU, an identical competition was run for schools in Finland.

This is the second time the “What has the EU done for me?” competition has been held.  lick here for information on last year’s competition and read the winning essays.