We applaud the courage and solidarity of Europe's civil society

Dear readers,

On 15 February we held the award ceremony for the laureates of our Civil Solidarity Prize, launched in July 2020 just as Europe was healing its wounds from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was shortly after the end of the first lockdowns, which had left us confined to our homes, watching media reports on heart-breaking scenes from Europe's hospitals and clapping for medical workers every evening.

But reports about acts of solidarity soon started pouring in from all over the EU, showing that many were not just sitting idly by, but running to help – be it to the most vulnerable among us, to those most affected by the crisis or in any other way needed.

For instance, they were making and distributing face masks and medical gowns, transforming hotels into emergency hospitals, supplying food to elderly or vulnerable people, providing digital support for home schooling or simply running art or entertainment projects to make pandemic life more bearable.

Civil society, through its organisations and people, was at the forefront of such actions. Without their help on the ground, the price paid for this pandemic would be much higher.

In an effort to give recognition to such enthusiastic engagement and work at grassroots level, in 2020 we decided to temporarily scrap our trademark Civil Society Prize, which we have awarded every year since 2006 to civil society organisations and individuals whose outstanding projects celebrate our European identity and our shared values in a particular field of work.

We replaced it with a unique, one-off Civil Solidarity Prize with the theme "Civil Society against COVID-19", specifically dedicated to the fight against coronavirus and its terrible consequences.

Instead of the usual five winners, we wanted to award this prize to up to 29 projects carried out by individuals, civil society organisations and companies. The projects had to be strictly not-for-profit and no more than 50% publicly funded. We were looking for one winner in each Member State and in the UK, as a gesture to show that we wanted to keep close ties with UK civil society despite the fact that the country was leaving the EU, plus one winner with a cross-border or pan-European focus.

The contest ended on 30 September, by which time we had received as many as 250 applications from across the EU. All our candidates were a demonstration of selfless citizen and civil society engagement on the ground. All the projects had solidarity as their driving force, but we grouped them under five main themes: food supply and assistance to vulnerable groups, medical equipment, advisory services, educational services and information on the pandemic and cultural offers.

After careful consideration we picked 23 winners spread across the five themes, who we think best represent what civil society is doing across Europe to help communities get through the pandemic. We awarded each of them EUR 10 000, and we hope that this financial incentive will help them further their work and that the prize will enhance the visibility of their projects.

We also hope to raise awareness of the importance not only of these projects but also of countless other significant and creative citizen initiatives taking place in the EU. They are all proving that solidarity is the key to overcoming any crisis. Through their work, they are building a better future for Europe, which will hopefully emerge from this ordeal stronger and more united.

Therefore, at our fully remote award ceremony on 15 February, it was not only our 23 winners that we applauded. We took our hats off to all of Europe's civil society and to so many of its organisations, companies and individuals who had shown and who keep showing unprecedented solidarity, courage and civic responsibility in these difficult and trying times.

Cillian Lohan

Vice-President for communication