After the last edition in 2018, it’s once more time to recognise and promote best practices from around Europe on digital skills: the European Digital Skills Awards 2023 are open for applications.
Created to give visibility and encourage sharing experiences and ideas on how to equip Europeans with digital skills at all levels, the Awards aim to reward projects and initiatives that are helping bridge the digital gap in 5 separate categories:
- Empowering Youth in Digital (i.e. projects to attract the younger public to ICT professions, media literacy initiatives for the younger public, emerging technologies courses for the younger public, hackathons etc)
- Digital Upskilling @ Work (i.e digital upskilling and reskilling initiatives in various sectors, facilitation of job placement of ICT professionals of all levels)
- Digital Skills for Education (i.e projects specifically aimed at digital upskilling for teachers and/or students and school administrations)
- Inclusion in the Digital World (i.e digital training and media literacy initiatives for the elderly, unemployed, vulnerable groups, accessibility)
- Women in ICT Careers (i.e projects specifically aimed at increasing the number of women ICT professionals or for the digital upskilling of women in the workforce or younger women in ICT)
Each project or initiative can be presented in only of the 5 categories, and applicants will be able to detail who are their target publics and what impact they are having on the digital skills gap in their specific area of action. Among the criteria for a successful application there will be the innovative character of the project, the communication activities implemented to maximise reach, the attention to the sustainability and scalability of the project, but also the measures takes to ensure the inclusion of people of all abilities and of all social and cultural backgrounds.
Applications are open from 20 February to 8 April 2023: to know who the finalists are, you will have to wait until the end of May, while the winners will be announced during the month of June. A jury of experts at European level will ensure the selection of the most significant projects.
For more information on the Awards you can visit the dedicated page and learn who can apply and how.