Mr Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner responsible for justice, freedom and security, launched a competition today - 28 November 2008 - on European Union and citizenship. Art and graphics students aged 16 or over who live in an EU Member State or have EU Member State nationality are invited to create a one-page comic strip, with no text, to illustrate the concept of citizenship in the European Union. The aim of this competition is to enable all these young people to describe their own experience of living as citizens in the European Union.

In the words of Mr Barrot, “The concept of a citizen in the European Union, not just a citizen of the European Union, will enable us to involve actively in this project people who live in the European Union without necessarily being EU citizens, on the basis of a very broad definition of the citizenship concept. If you think about the idea of citizenship in Europe, you actually get to the very heart of your existence within the EU”, he added. And he continued: “That’s why, in the context of this competition today, I am suggesting to all art and graphics students of 16 or over that they create a comic strip that brings to life the concept of citizenship in the European Union.”
Those who decide to take part in the competition will have to produce their own design for a one-page comic strip - with no words - illustrating the concept of citizenship in the European Union. The competition is addressed mainly to art and graphics students of 16 or over who live in one of the 27 EU Member States. However, it is also open to anyone else aged 16 or over who lives in the European Union and is interested in this subject.
An initial selection will be made at national level - in each country, three prizewinners will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony on 3 April 2009.

Then, at European level, the 27 national prizewinners will be invited to Brussels from 9 to 11 May 2009, and three European prizewinners will be selected from among them. In a prize-giving ceremony hosted by Vice-President Jacques Barrot, the winners will receive €6 000 (first prize), €4 000 (second prize) and €2 000 (third prize).
The best comic strips will be posted on the websites of the Commission representations in the Member States and on the Europa website. They may also be used for future European campaigns on citizenship.
This initiative is particularly fitting since both the European Commission and the European Parliament have set themselves the aim of improving communications on the subject of citizenship.
More information is available at http://www.eurocartoon.eu , where the competition website can be found.

The competition is coordinated by "Open Youth" for Bulgaria.