Irland D 133 – Flossie Donnely

Suisse MD 102 – Ines Isenegger

Greece MD 117 – Maria Zikidou

The aim of the Bert Mason Young Ambassador Competition is twofold:

• to recognise, encourage and support young people who are actively involved in the welfare of the community
• to raise the profile of Lions and increase our own service activities

In order to give recognition to these young individuals, a competition between European finalists will take place at the annual Europa Forum. Awards will be given to the winning finalists. The Young Ambassador Award has its own logo which denotes its European status. This logo will be used for the European Final and the Forum members will use it in order to promote this Award.

Finalists

1. In order to be eligible, on 30 June of the year in which the Europa Forum will be held, the finalists must be no younger than 15 and no older than 18.
2. Each member of the Europa Forum may nominate one and only one participant for the competition.
3. Forum members are countries or states as defined in Article III – Rules of Procedures of the Europa Forum.
4. Finalists must be registered with the Chairman of the European Committee by the end of June in the year of the competition, using the application form provided.
5. The finalists’ costs for attending the competition will be the responsibility of the entering members.

Competition

1. ompetition The interview: Each finalist will be interviewed by three judges. They can, if they wish to do so, display photographs and illustrations of their work, but no electronic presentations can be used. They can also choose to have an interpreter, if they wish to do so. It is suggested that the presentation and interview last a maximum of 20 minutes.
2. The judges: The competition judges are three “non-Lions”, male and female, and they can be from the service, education and industry sector. One of the judges should be appointed as the lead judge.
3. The judging process – marks will be allocated as follows:
   • Community service activity: 50% of the marks
   • Personality and demonstration of leadership qualities: 15% of the marks
   • The use of the prize money: 15% of the marks
   • The ability to speak about their service activities: 20% of the marks (with an interpreter if required).
   • A marking sheet will be completed for each finalist from which the winners are identified.

The prizes will be awarded in the following way and the prize money must be spent on their project:

• 1st prize: 3,000 EUR
• 2nd prize: 1,250 EUR
• 3rd prize: 750 EUR

Host Country’s Responsibilities

1. Appointing a contact member from the Host Committee to act as a link between the Young Ambassador European Committee and the Planning Committee. This is to ensure smooth and efficient implementation of the competition process in respect of the following:
   1. Arrangements for the competition itself.
   2. Appointing three competition judges. One of the judges should have previous experience of judging at the Europa Forum and must be nominated by the Young Ambassador European Committee. Obviously, appointing two local judges as the Forum judges helps us to keep our costs down. The Host Committee is responsible for booking and paying for overnight accommodation and travel expenses.
   3. Activities for the candidates whilst at Forum.
   4. This contact should be able to communicate in English.
2. Providing access badges to the Forum venue for the judges, finalists and a maximum of two supporters (being non Lions/Leos) per participant. Lions and Leos who may additionally wish to support the candidate would be expected topay the normal Forum entrance charges.
3. Providing facilities for the judges to conduct the interviews in private anddiscuss the finalists’ results, including waiting facilities for the finalists and theirsupporters.
4. Providing the opportunity for the finalists to make their presentations to anaudience of those attending the Forum. This would normally follow immediately after completion of the judging. A trophy and replica will be presented to the winner and certificates and a money prize presented to the winner and the second and third prize winners. The prize money will ideally be sent through bank transfer. All European finalists will receive a Certificate of Participation.
5. Providing time at the Closing Ceremony of the Europa Forum for the winner to make a short presentation to the European Council.
6. The replica should include an inscription in the following style: “Europa Forum Birmingham Young Ambassador European Winner 2014” and include the Lions logo.
7. All costs incurred in carrying out the above including the price money of EUR 5000. The host country may seek sponsors to provide funds for these expenses.

The European Committee

The Committee consists of the following representatives: one from the two Forums that should be held in the future, one from the present Forum, and Forum host members who were the acting members in the last Forum. The Committee also includes representatives from Belgium, the British Isles, Ireland and Germany. The three latter countries were the founding countries of the competition. The Committee Chairman shall be elected for a three-year period and can be re-elected for a further period of three years, that is, a maximum term of six years.

Responsibilities of the European Young Ambassador Chairman

1. Liaise with the Host Committee of the Forum.
2. Find out who the right contact is!
3. Find accommodation for the candidates. The Committee agreed that the local Lions or Leos shall provide accommodation for the members of the Host Committee, if that is possible, in order to keep the expenses down.
4. Ensure that the finalists have a sit-down dinner on Friday evening.
5. Send information about the workshop, meeting and presentation to the Host Committee.
6. Attend the Europa Forum. Run the workshop and chair the meeting of the European Committee and manage the finalists’ presentations that should be held in front of the Lions. Ensure that the minutes are produced and circulated. Ensure that the attendance lists and contact details are kept for all Lions who attend the Young Ambassador events, with a particular focus being on the e-mail addresses.
7. E-mail the aforementioned Lions at regular intervals between each competition in order to keep their interest in the competition.
8. E-mail the aforementioned Lions at regular intervals between each competition in order to keep their interest in the competition.
9. Ensure that the application form and guidance notes for the Young Ambassador competition are published on the Europa Forum website.
10. Receive application forms from the finalists sponsored by Forum members (approximately one month prior to the Forum), send these letters to the three judges, along with the list of judges’ roles and responsibilities, instructions specifying the competition meeting place and provide them with scoring sheets. Appoint one of the judges the chairman.
11. Arrange for the trophy to be returned to the Forum so it can be presented to the next winner. The replica of the trophy which should be handed over to the winner falls under the responsibility of the Host Committee.

Responsibilities of the European Committee Members

1. Members should be present at the Committee meetings.
2. If members cannot be present, they should nominate a suitable substitute.
3. As the meetings will be conducted in English, all Committee members should have a good understanding of the language in order to avoid misinterpretation.