"Peace, Europe,Future: What does Peace in Europe mean to you?" This was the question put to young people from the EU and acceding or candidate countries aged between 8 and 24. Children aged 8 to 12 expressed their answer in a drawing, young people aged 13 to 24 in a short text of maximum120 characters, in any of the 23 EU official languages.
The contest attracted close to 5 400 applications, from 33 countries: 1 173 drawings for the age group8-12, 1 870 texts for the age group 13-17 and 2 354 texts for the age group18-24.
The European Youth Forum pre-selected the 16 best entries for each age group. A jury chaired by the famous comic book author Jean Van Hamme selected three of the final winners (one per age group):
- Ana FANLO VICENTE,from Spain,12 years old, (group 1), Ana lives in Salamanca. She is currently in second year of secondary education. She likes music, nature, and animals. During her free time, she loves riding horses, dancing flamenco, going to the movie and reading.
- Elena NicolettaGARBUJO, from Italy,16 years old, (group 2), Elena lives in Novate Milanese, a small town near Milan. She is in third year of high school. She practices water-polo, ice skating and sailing. She also likes music and singing: she can play piano and sings in several chorus.
- Ilona ZIELKOWSKA, from Poland,21 years old, (group 3), Ilona is studying political sciences with a specialisation in international relations at the University of Gdańsk. In her free time, she takes polish folk dance lessons and practices English-speaking theatre.
The fourth winner was chosen by a vote by the public on Facebook: 16 additional pre-selected entries from the categories 18-24 were posted. The candidate with the most votes,Larkin ZAHRA, 23, from Malta won. Larkin lives in Zebbug. He loves sports, one of his favourites being football.
The four winners are invited by the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and theEuropean Parliament to be part of the official delegation of the European Union that is travelling to Oslo to receive this year's Peace Prize. They will attend the official ceremony on10 December as well as the Nobel Peace Prize concert on 11 December.
The winner and the 9 runners-up of the Facebook vote will also be invited to Strasbourg for a special event around the Nobel prize on 12 December at the European Parliament.
