Submit your project for the EESC's 2023 Civil Society Prize on mental health – final call!

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is inviting civil society organisations, individuals and private companies to apply for its Civil Society Prize 2023. The deadline to apply for the prize, totalling EUR 50 000, runs until 10 a.m. (Brussels time) on 30 September. The prize will be shared between a maximum of five winners.

This year's theme is mental health, and the EESC is looking for creative and innovative non-profit projects and initiatives that help individuals with mental health conditions and create a supportive environment for their mental well-being, whether on an individual level or as a collective effort.

To be eligible, the entries must cover at least one of the issues listed in the eligibility criteria published in the Rules governing the 14th EESC Civil Society Prize, available on the EESC's dedicated web page.

Among other things, projects can focus on preventing and combating psychosocial risks at work and promoting supportive workplace cultures, reaching out to people at risk of mental health problems, providing crisis intervention and ensuring person-centred services for mental health.

They can also address the mental health needs of disadvantaged groups and ageing populations or promote mental well-being in children and adolescents, by tackling issues such as substance use and abuse, cyberaddiction, youth violence and bullying.

Projects focused on community work such as empowering local communities, creating networks for community involvement and establishing a supportive environment for mental health will also be eligible. Improving mental health literacy and combating the stigma which often deters people from seeking help are also acceptable as entry themes.

The prize is open to all civil society organisations and private companies officially registered in the EU, while individual applicants have to be either EU citizens or third-country nationals residing in the EU.

The projects must have already been implemented or still be ongoing. Projects that are planned but have not yet started by 30 September 2023 will be excluded. All initiatives and projects must be strictly not-for-profit and must be carried out in the EU.

The award ceremony will be held in Brussels during the EESC Civil Society Week in March 2024.

To apply, click here.

The full description of requirements is available on our webpage.

The EESC hopes its prize, now being awarded for the 14th time, will honour and showcase the non-state efforts made so far to help people battling with mental health issues. It also aims to encourage ongoing projects and inspire new ones, thus highlighting the contribution such projects can make to curbing the explosion of this silent epidemic in the EU.

The aim of the EESC's flagship Civil Society Prize is to raise awareness of civil society's outstanding contribution to creating a European identity and citizenship and to promoting the common values that bolster European integration. Each year, the prize focuses on a different theme particularly relevant to the EU.