The Altiero Spinelli Prize has been awarded by the European Commission since 2017 and rewards initiatives that improve knowledge about the European Union. Three campaigns from Germany will be honored this year; that is in addition to the Bertelsmann Stiftung, The Citizens' Movement "Pulse of Europe" and the organization "Munich European Forum." Across Europe, there are 16 award winners. Each of the institutions will receive 25,000 euros. European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will give the welcoming and closing speech at this year's award ceremony. Director General Themis Christophidou, who is responsible at the EU Commission, will guide through the event.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung's short film was produced in our Vision Europe project on the occasion of the 2019 European elections. It was primarily intended to appeal to young voters, whose turnout in the 2014 elections had reached a worrying low of less than 30 percent.
The teaser alone generated nearly 2,000 clicks on Twitter within 24 hours. The film and teaser found over 2.5 million impressions, well over half a million views and was "shared" over 2,000 times in just twelve days on various social media channels under the hashtag #BackToEurope. Even after elections, the film continued to find new viewers, for example at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2019 or at many schools, and over 11,000 new, organic views were added.
The film along with the campaign made it to the final selection of several awards: At the European Excellence Awards, one of the most important awards for European communication, and at the renowned German PolitikAward, it landed in the top 5 in each case.
To watch the event live on March 17 at 5 p.m. 2019 see EU's website.
All further information about the Bertelsmann Stiftung's short film "Zurück zu Europa" can be found here.
