#SaferInternet4EU Awards

The #SaferInternet4EU Awards, aiming to reward and celebrate excellence and best practice in the European safer/better internet field from organisations, teachers and youth, are now open for entries until 15 May 2018.

Better Internet for Kids (BIK), the EC initiative to promote a safe and responsible use of digital technologies by children and youth has grown over recent years. With its foundations in the EC's Safer Internet Programme and, more latterly, the European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children (2012), much work has focused on creating a safer and better digital world for its youngest users, their parents, teachers and carers, through a range of online tools, services, resources and initiatives from a myriad of stakeholders.

In order to celebrate this progress and underpin some of the achievements in this area, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel announced the #SaferInternet4EU Awards on Safer Internet Day (SID) 2018. The Awards will reward and celebrate excellence in the European safer/better internet field, acknowledging the leading role the European Union is playing in the field, following up to 20 years of EC-funded safer/better internet programmes. The #SaferInternet4EU Awards is one of several actions which the Commission will support throughout 2018 to promote online safety, media literacy and cyber hygiene.

The #SaferInternet4EU Awards are now open across three categories:

A best practice competition for organisations, rewarding a high-quality and innovative online safety education programme, resource or awareness-raising campaign targeting youth, teachers or parents. This category is open to public and private organisations (including Insafe network organisations), specialists, or academia which are operating within one of the country beneficiaries of the Better Internet programme under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), i.e. EU28, Iceland and Norway.

A best practice competition for teachers, rewarding a remarkable and inspiring initiative/resource/tool/solution from a single teacher or a group of teachers.

A best practice competition for youth, rewarding a remarkable and inspiring initiative/resource/tool/solution from a single young person or a group of youth.
All best practices* should focus on issues related to the sphere of Better Internet for Kids (BIK), tackling topics such as fake news, cyberbullying, connected toys & privacy concerns, grooming, exposure to harmful or disturbing content, or cyber hygiene aspects (i.e. password security, cyber security and so on).

*For the purposes of this competition, best practices are taken to include initiatives, resources, tools, solutions or similar.

The first stage of the competition closes on 15 May 2018, at which point applications will be reviewed by a jury formed of EU experts in the field of Better Internet for Kids (BIK) and cyber hygiene. In a second stage of the competition, three finalists in each category will be invited to create an audio-visual (AV) material (max 1 minute) in English, pitching their best practice, which will then be part of a #SaferInternet4EU Awards promotion video, featuring all finalists. Video materials will also be the basis for an additional award in the competition, namely a public vote award, the voting for which will take place on the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) portal from late September 2018 to late October 2018.

Related link:
#SaferInternet4EU Awards