MYFER Award 2024 – Celebrating the most youth-friendly European regions

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Nordland County Council, the AER and the Youth Regional Network (YRN) relaunched the MYFER Award in 2024, awarding the most youth-friendly European regions, and celebrating the youth initiatives from the AER member regions across Europe.

12 youth projects and initiatives were submitted to the MYFER Award, from the following regions: Krapina-Zagorje County, the Autonomous Region of Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol, the Cohesion Region of West Slovenia, the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, the Municipality of Brdovec (Zagreb County, Hrvatsko Zagorje – Prigorje Region), Varaždin County, the Azores, and Brussels-Capital Region.

The jury highlighted the high quality of all applications received, as all the submitted projects and initiatives reflected concrete opportunities and commitments for youth participation, inclusion, education, active citizenship and/or professional development. It was a very competitive selection for the jury to make, and all regions can be proud of their youth initiatives, and of their replicability across other European regions. All projects and initiatives can be consulted below:

CHECK OUT ALL MYFER APPLICATIONS HERE

The MYFER winners of this 2024 edition were announced on the 15th of August, at the Award Ceremony of the AER Summer Academy in Bodø, Nordland County, Norway. Two co-winners were chosen by the jury, and revealed by Norbert Nagy, YRN President, at the Award Ceremony:

Regione Autonoma Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol, for their project “Schools Beyond Regions and Borders”
Krapina-Zagorje County, for their project “ReCeZa – Regional Center Zabok”

AER Summer Academy President Kari Anne Bøkestad Andreassen, YRN President Norbert Nagy, and AER Secretary General Vania Freitas, presented the MYFER Award for the two winning regions. As their representatives could not be present at the Ceremony, were symbolically called on stage: Eleonora Spina, an Italian member of the YRN, as young Italians directly benefit from the project of Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol, and Marina Medarić, Chair of the AER Election Committee, from Croatia, to acknowledge the project from Krapina-Zagorje.

For the Autonomous Region of Trentino-Alto Adige / Südtirol, the jury particularly appreciated:

the project’s pan-European dimension, including countries in wider Europe (EU + non-EU);
the fact that the project targets and includes younger people (aged between 16-19 years old), at a core moment of their education (high school);
the direct and concrete inclusion an participation of young people in the activities;
the inclusion of high schools and high school students, reflecting that education, learning and educational exchanges are at the core of the project;
the knowledge-sharing, peer-learning, exchange of best practices and capacity-building dimension, connecting European youth, regions, countries and high schools;
valuing both youth mobility and teachers’ mobility;
the multilingual and intercultural dimension;
the social inclusion and gender equality components, especially with the inclusion of linguistic minorities, rural / remote areas, young people with fewer opportunities.

For Krapina-Zagorje County, the jury particularly appreciated:

the fact that the project provides concrete incentives and programmes for young people to be trained and skilled in the tourism and hospitality sector – a sector who needs a youth workforce in many regions across Europe;
the career / professional development activities and training for young people at an early stage (high school);
the social inclusion and gender equality aspects, especially putting in place adapted programmes for young people with disabilities and/or from minorities;
the knowledge-transfer and replicability dimension of the initiative, which can inspire and provide a concrete model to other regions.

The jury of the MYFER Award 2024 was composed of:

The Presidium of the Youth Regional Network (YRN);
Mícheál Ó hÉanaigh, AER Vice-President for Youth, Culture and Tourism;
Kari Anne Bøkestad Andreassen, AER Summer Academy President and Nordland County Councillor (Nordland County Council is the host region of the AER Summer Academy 2024, and a former MYFER winner);
Donegal County Council (as former MYFER winner);
The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (as former MYFER winner).