Opening speech of the award ceremony was given by Ziya Yediyıldız, Director of General Directorate of EU and Foreign Relations, Ministry of National Education. From all around Turkey, middle and high school students, teachers, school principals, representatives from Provincial National Education Directorates, central staff of MoNE, and other public institutions’ representatives attended the ceremony.

Deputy Undersecretaries of Ministry of National Education, Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the European Union to Turkey also attended the ceremony along with representatives from Ministry for European Union Affairs and Central Finance and Contracts Unit.

At his speech, General Director Ziya Yediyıldız mentioned that awareness of children about universal world values will increase with Students Learning about the EU Project and Turkey’s values and culture will pour into world thorough the EU doors. He continued saying that:

“During the integration process of our country in to the European Union, a youth knowledgeable on social transformation and global economic competition, and blended with universal world values will strengthen both our country and the European Union that we want to join and will open a way from mind to mind, and heart to heart. In this line, with the Students Learning about the EU Project, our children’s awareness about universal world values and tat the same time they will be the medium in pouring our values and culture in to the World through the EU door”.

Presenter of the Award Ceremony of Students Learning about the EU Project was Tolga Gariboğlu. Deputy Undersecretary Ahmet Emre Bilgili from MoNE told that he was very impressed especially with some slogans and he expressed that “Make Room for One Star!!…” slogan is very meaningful with regard to Turkey-EU relations.

Counsellor François Begeot from Delegation of the European Union to Turkey emphasized on the importance of the competitions in providing a deep knowledge on EU common values like peace, equality, freedom, unity, and solidarity and on EU-Turkey relations. He said that “I believe, some of the young artists and writers in this hall will be prominent painters and writers of our common Europe in the future.”

After the opening speeches, national winners of the competitions were announced and their awards were presented to them. The program ended with exhibition of winning works from all provinces.

Names of students who are national winners in each category are given below:

SLOGAN COMPETITION

1. Neslihan Küçük from Kırşehir Cacabey Middle School with her slogan “Reconcile, Unite, Liberalize”.
2. Davut Güler from Gümüşhane Gazipaşa Middle School with his slogan “United Europe; For the Sake of Democracy, Equality and Humanity”.
3. Selinay Belen from Ordu Osman Özyurt Middle School with her slogan “A Different Flower in Every Garden Europe will Flourish with Turkey”.

PAINTING COMPETITION

1. The first place is, Esra YATKIN from Denizli Ekrem Başer Middle School.
2. The second place is, Hamza BALIBEY from Elazığ Aziz Gül Middle School.
3. The third place is, Sude CANTÜRK from Zonguldak Mimar Sinan Middle School.

SHORT-STORY COMPETITION

1. The first place is, Kamil KAYA from Gaziantep Mehmet Nurettin Horoz Logistics Vocational Anatolian High School with his story “Hallo Grandpaaa!”.
2. The second place is, Onur Alper YILMAZ from Hatay TED Hatay Collage with his story “The Kid with Endless Candy”.
3. The third place is, Şeyda Sıla KARA from Konya Meram Science High School with her story “The Time; It was Red, Furious and Much Blue”.

QUIZ COMPETITION

1. The first place is: Ankara Etimesgut Anatolian High School

Senanur Şahin

Yasin Arıkan

Büşra Karakökçek

Gizem Çal

2. The second place is: Eskişehir TED Collage Private Anatolian High School

Çağla Su Keşan

Cansu Fidan

Mustafa Mercan

Yunus Emre Salı

3. The third place is: Antalya Ünal Aysal Anatolian High School

Dilara Ak

Devrim Büyükşahin

Can Çelik

Merve Karakaş