“EU INFO CENTRES STORY COMPETITION” TOP THREE STUDENTS FROM BURSA, GAZİANTEP AND DENİZLİ

The awards of the students who succeeded at the national level in the EU Info Centres story competition titled “EU Values” are announced today at a ceremony in the presence of Minister of National Education Mr. Hüseyin Çelik and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey Mr. Marc Pierini. Top three stories were from EU Info Centres in Bursa, Gaziantep and Denizli. Harun Çakır from Bursa Malcılar High School is the winner of the competition with his story titled “European Union and Peace”. Kübra Atacan from Gaziantep Fitnat Nuri Tekerekoğlu Anatolian High School ranked the second with her story “To the Heart of Life“ and Sümeyye Arslan from Denizli Private Servergazi Ufuk High School ranked the third with her story “EU Observations Prior to the Exam”.

EU Story Competition which is organized for the first time by the EU Information Centres of the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey aims to underline the founding values of the European Union namely peace, unity, equality, freedom, security and solidarity. The event was organized in cooperation with the Projects Coordination Centre of the Ministry of National Education.

Addressing the award ceremony Ambassador Marc Pierini said; “I want to thank wholeheartedly the students who have taken part in this story writing competition: they have given us a different perspective, a human perspective on the relationship between Turkey and the EU. And their work, allow me to say, is as important as the work of the negotiators of Turkey’s accession to the EU.

In the ceremony held on 6 November 2007 at Ankara Başkent Teachers’ Guess House, at 10:30 a.m., 22 stories from 8 cities competed for winners position. The competition targeting high school grade 1 and grade 2 students, encompassed two phases. In the first phase, with cooperation of EU Information Centres and Provincial Education Directorates, competitions at local level were organised in Antalya, Van, Kayseri, Gaziantep, Adana, Bursa, İzmir, Denizli and Edirne; and 22 stories were selected. In the second phase, the 22 stories which were filtered out for the final were assessed and the top three were picked out.

Winning the national competition, students from Bursa, Gaziantep and Denizli will participate in the “EU Information Visit” to EU institutions in Brussels scheduled for the last week of November. They will pay visits to EU institutions like the European Parliament, European Council, and the European Commission.

To ensure coordination of information activities undertaken by the EU Information Centre Network, and to strengthen it country-wide, a contract was signed between the European Commission Delegation to Turkey and Gaziantep Chamber of Trade, and the “Project supporting EU Information Centres Network” has been put into implementation in 2007. In the framework of the Project, a story-competition on the European Union was organised for the first time in the lead of the Project Coordination Unit established under Gaziantep Chamber of Trade.

For information:
Selda Paydak, Press/Communication Officer, European Commission Delegation to Turkey
Tel: 0 312 459 87 00

Figen Öğüt, Gaziantep Chamber of Trade, Project Coordination Unit, EU Information Centres Network Coordinator
Tel: 0 342 220 30 30

For the list of the students please click here.

For the awarded stories please click here. 

For the awarded stories in French please click here. (FR)

For the awarded stories in Turkish please click here. (TR)

In order to see the related images please click here.