Know IT All Wins Overall MEDEA Award 2009
Berlin (GER), December 2009 - The overall winner of the MEDEA Awards 2009 was announced by Maruja Gutierrez-Diaz, Advisor to the Director of the Lifelong Learning Programme, European Commission, during a reception held recently in Berlin. The recipient of the honor is Know IT All for Primary Schools by Childnet International (UK), which was represented at the award ceremony by Lucinda Fell, Policy and Communications Manager, who graciously accepted the bronze MEDEA statuette, as well as hardware and software sponsored by Avid and Adobe.
Speaking after the event, Lucinda stated, "I am thrilled that Childnet's recently launched Know IT All for Primary resource has been recognised as the winner of the MEDEA Award 2009. Equipping children to use the internet and mobile phones safely is crucial, and this resource has been designed to share key messages and lessons in an exciting and engaging way at the time when children are at an early stage in using these powerful tools. Since we launched this resource in June 2009, there has been huge demand for it from primary schools in the UK. Both Childnet and the partners involved in this project are delighted with MEDEA's recognition of its detailed pedagogical framework."
In addition to the overall winner, the MEDEA Award for Creativity and Innovation 2009 was won by Daisy and Drago by Terakki Foundation Schools (Turkey), represented at the awards by Özge Karaoðlu, who received the award from Avid's Tobias Hall. Traditions Across Europe by Istituto Comprensivo "Don Bosco" (Italy), represented at the awards by Gina Mango, won the MEDEA European Collaboration Award 2009, presented by Maruja Gutierrez-Diaz.
A MEDEA Special Jury Award was given to Eyes on the Skies by European Southern Observatory (Germany), represented by Lars Lindberg Christensen, in recognition for what the judges described as "a superb example of the value that high-quality video imagery can bring to an educational production". This award was presented by Helle Meldgaard, UNI-C, Denmark and Member of MEDEA Organising Committee.
The other finalists for the awards were
- INgeBEELD by CANON CULTURAL UNIT (Belgium), represented by Dirk Terryn;
- Les TIC en Classe by VISION FUTURE (France), represented by Hélène Ormières and Odile Lausecker;
- Planet SciCast by NESTA (UK), represented by Jonathan Sanderson; and
- Studiecoach by the Dutch Open University (The Netherlands) represented by Marion Stevens and Lisette Meijrink.
Speaking during the awards, Deborah Arnold, Vidéoscop - Université Nancy 2, France and Member of MEDEA Organising Committee, described the dramatic increase in the number of entries received this year - 254 from 39 countries - and the wealth of experience and interest this represented. She described how the competition, now in its second year, is going from strength to strength and this year involved a judging panel of more than 70 judges from 26 countries.
During the ceremony, Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel, Director of the Hasso-Plattner-Institut (HPI), Germany, spoke about the major changes taking place generally in respect to ICT use and the importance industrialists and policy-makers place upon the use of media in education. He also discussed the historical regional connections between the media and his institute. Michael O'Neill from Adobe spoke about the quality of the MEDEA entries and the enthusiasm and commitment that went into their production.
The closing date for receipt of entries for MEDEA 2010 is 31 July 2010.
