Youth4Regions – the programme for aspiring journalists to Belgium
The European Commission’s programme is helping journalism students and young journalists to discover what the EU is doing in their region. EU Member States or EU neighbouring countries nationals can apply, given that they’re 18-30 years old, demonstrates a real interest in journalism through studies and/or work experience, and have not participated in previous editions of the Youth4Regions Programme.
The European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) wishes to encourage journalism students and young journalists to learn about the EU, Cohesion Policy and to communicate on European solidarity and concrete projects co-funded by the European Union.
The specific objectives include:
- Providing the framework and conditions for young and future journalists to specialize in EU affairs and Regional Policy
- Fostering young journalistic productions to promote knowledge of EU-funded projects
- Promoting innovative means of covering the European Week of Regions and Cities
- Enhancing the links between European institutions and young Europeans
The call for applications is open to any person that fulfils all of the following conditions:
- Is a citizen of an EU Member State or an EU neighbouring country
- Is between 18 and 30 years old
- Demonstrates a real interest in journalism through studies and/or work experience
- Has not participated in previous editions of the Youth4Regions Programme
Only individual applications are accepted. The applicants will be asked to prove that they fulfil the above conditions if selected to participate in the Youth4Regions Programme.
In total 37 places are available under three categories: general, photojournalism and video journalism
Applications received after this date will not be accepted.
ENP countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine*, Syria and Tunisia, as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan), EU candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine) and potential candidates (Georgia, Kosovo*), EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) and the UK.
In the case where not sufficient applications of good quality are received from a Member State, the European Commission reserves the right to make that position available for another country
In order to apply, potential participants must send a short article (2500 – 6250 characters), a photo report (three pictures) or a short video report (2 – 3 minutes) covering a project co-financed by the European Union (except for Erasmus+ study abroad projects). The article, photo or short video must cover the following topic: SKILLS
Specific projects co-financed by the EU can be found online on kohesio.ec.europa.eu, what-europe-does-for-me.eu or other EU sources.
Contributions are accepted in all of the 24 EU official languages. However, in case of photo and video submissions we require a short written summary in English.
Please note that all communication with the Youth4Regions secretariat will be in English.
The jury will assess eligible applications on both substance and style based on the following selection criteria:
- Degree of originality (a new story or an unusual angle)
- Extent to which they are compelling (catch the interest of the reader)
- Extent to which they demonstrate a rigorous approach in terms of research and field work
The jury will be composed of communication expertsfrom the European Commission. The jury’s decision is final and without appeal. The jury reserves the right to reject:
- any entry that does not comply with the requirements of the competition
- which has been plagiarized or published prior to the current competition
- or that was created using AI software (e.g ChatGPT).
The competition results will be announced on 14 August 2023.
The European Commission reserves the right to use the articles, photos and videos submitted in presentation materials, with the media, and to reproduce them in any form.
All 37 successful applicants will be invited to Brussels to attend the Youth4Regions Programme during the 07 – 13 October 2023, for which the European Commission will cover food, travel and accommodation.
The programme includes trainings on journalism and EU affairs, mentorship from established journalists, visits of media organisations and EU institutions, as well European Commission certified work experience as journalists covering the EU Regions’ Week. Upon completion of the programme the participants become part of the Youth4Regions Alumni network.
The European Commission will select the two winners of the 2023 Megalizzi – Niedzielski prize for aspiring journalists from among the 37 selected participants based on their entries in the competition and their commitment to European journalism. The Megalizzi –Niedzielski prize honours the memory of Antonio Megalizzi and Barto Pedro Orent-Niedzielski, young European journalists with a strong attachment to the EU and its values, who passed away after a terrorist attack in Strasbourg in late 2018.
Deadline: July 10, 2023.