Slovakian, French and Belgian projects awarded 15th Civil Society Prize during ceremony

The 15th Civil Society Prize was officially awarded to three non-profit projects dedicated to combating the harmful polarisation of European society.

On 20 March, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) rewarded three non-profit projects from Slovakia, France and Belgium for their outstanding contribution to combating the harmful polarisation of European society.

The Slovak Debate Association took home the first prize of EUR 14 000.

The two runners-up each received EUR 9 000:

2nd prize: Reporters d'Espoirs in France for Prix Européen Jeunes Reporters d’Espoirs, a French-language training scheme for solutions-based journalism.

3rd prize: FEC Diversité asbl in Belgium for their project ESCAPE GAME EXTREME DROITE pour se désintoxiquer, an immersive game that counters far-right ideologies.

At the award ceremony, held during the EESC's Civil Society Week, EESC President Oliver Röpke said: ‘Civil society plays a vital role in safeguarding European society from harmful polarisation, both online and offline, and in protecting our democracies from the rise of authoritarianism. In recognition of this critical work, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has decided to award its Civil Society Prize to organisations that actively prevent or combat this dangerous trend of division.’

Awarding the prizes, EESC Vice-President for Communication, Laurențiu Plosceanu, said: ‘Organised civil society plays a fundamental role in safeguarding European democracy, as has been proven yet again by this year’s remarkable and wide-ranging entries.’

More on the winners and reactions

First-prize winner the Slovak Debate Association launched its highly successful Critical Thinking Olympiad (CTO) in 2021. The CTO has been widely adopted, with nearly 9 000 registered participants from over 300 schools last year. It is structured as a competition across three age groups in three rounds, in which students tackle real-world media challenges. The tasks mirror the content young people encounter on a daily basis, such as evaluating Instagram posts, analysing TikTok videos, and fact-checking AI-generated content.

The prize will enable the CTO to expand beyond the borders of Slovakia, with members of the Slovak Debate Association explaining that: ‘All our materials are open-source, enabling other organisations to replicate or adapt the programme for their own contexts. This commitment to openness ensures that the CTO’s effective approach can inspire similar initiatives across Europe, promoting a culture of critical thinking, media literacy, and resilience against disinformation.’

The Prix européen jeunes Reporters d’Espoirs is an educational programme created in 2020, which has built up a community of nearly 800 young reporters. Its aim is to promote solutions-based journalism and the use of the French language among young Europeans and French speakers under the age of 30 – whatever their status, education or training.

‘We have a growing network of partners and we're working on a project to extend the prize to other countries’, representatives of Reporters d'Espoirs explained before adding; ‘The conditions would remain the same, with the same beneficiaries, and we can imagine the prizes being awarded in Brussels – we are currently working on such a roll-out.’

To raise awareness of the dangers of far-right movements, FEC Diversité has created the ESCAPE GAME EXTREME DROITE pour se désintoxiquer. The game creates an immersive experience for players and can take an hour, half a day or a whole day, depending on the requirements of those hosting the event and how much time they have available. It provides participants with a vivid experience, recreating the conditions of living under a far-right dictatorship while teaching them ways to counter far-right ideologies.

The prize money will come in handy going forward, as members of FEC Diversité explained: ‘The escape game is attracting interest from other unions in Belgium and Europe who are coming to test it and try it out for inspiration. The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) is promoting the game and plans to have it translated into several languages.’

More on the prize and previous editions

The prize, awarded this year for the 15th time, honours non-profit projects carried out by individuals, civil society organisations and companies. A different theme is chosen for each edition, covering an important area of the EESC’s work. The prize money and recognition the winners receive help them scale up their projects and provide further help in their communities.

The 14th edition saw the first prize awarded to the Third Age Foundation’s AgeWell project. In 2022, the EESC exceptionally granted prizes for two themes: youth, and help for Ukraine. In 2021, the prize rewarded climate projects promoting a just transition. In 2020, the EESC replaced its Civil Society Prize with a one-off Civil Solidarity Prize dedicated to the fight against COVID-19. Other topics in the past have included gender equality and women’s empowerment, European identities and cultural heritage, and migration.