Competition details
Key dates
Submission is open from 1st of September 2023 until 31st of July 2024
Announcement of the winners: 31. August 2024
Award ceremony: October 2024 (exact date tba)
Who can participate?
The contest is open to all students between the ages of 14 and 18 across all EU-member states. Students can only participate as a team with fellow students (maximum team size: 3 students). Team members may be of various age, and cross-class collaboration is welcomed. Students can participate in the CCC as part of their school lessons or independently.
What to submit?
Participants submit their report on the interventions they made. Interventions can either take the form of a demonstration or a scenario:
- Demonstration of the intervention as a real-world project (Action-based Presentation): For instance, by building a prototype, performing a campaign, programming an app, and many more possibilities.
- Scenario of the intervention as a proposal for action (Plan-based Presentation): For instance, by designing a product, sketching an alternative production process, planning a political measure, formulating a law, and many more options.
In which format should the interventions be submitted?
Two contributions are required to submit the intervention on the online platform:
- A video, photo, and/or text journal documenting the process and experiences of developing the intervention. For this purpose, participants can use the logbook.
- A video, powerpoint, or text document, presenting the intervention and reflecting on its possible future impact by telling a story about how the intervention shifted the system toward making cities more sustainable, more livable, more inclusive, and more future-proof.
We recommend submitting it in the English language. If that is not possible, submissions in the native language are welcomed as well.
What are the prizes?
All participants will receive a Circular Education Certificate (certificate of participation) to recognize their effort and a feedback on their intervention to enhance the learning outcome.
All finalists and their guardians will additionally receive a trip to Vienna for the final award ceremony in October 2024, which will enable them to network with peers and be heard by decision-makers. Winners will also get a 1500 euro prize for their project.
What are the evaluation criteria?
1. UNDERSTANDING URBAN CIRCULARITY: How well does the team display a basic understanding of circularity and the circular economy within complex urban systems of production and consumption?
2. UNDERSTANDING INTER-CONNECTIVITY: How well does the team understand of general landscape (key actors, organizations, initiatives), determine who needs to be involved, map the relationships, roles and information flow in the system, identify opportunities to build new relationships, and explore other parts of the system?
3. SEEING OPPORTUNITIES FOR CIRCULARITY: How well does the team represent the problem in their environment and address this problem, establish objectives through cooperation, and find ways to achieve those objectives via circular actions?
4. CONVINCING THE JURY ABOUT THEIR ANALYSIS AND PROPOSAL: How well does the team present their overall analysis, which includes the problem, actors, cooperation, and their final proposal for the problem they defined?
What does the evaluation process look like?
Round 1: All submissions are going to be rated by the CCC Jury and will receive feedback. The Jury will consist of 5-10 experts from different fields and EU member states. Each jury member has to evaluate all contributions by using a rating matrix: For each of the four evaluation criteria (see above) the jury members allocate 0 to 5 points. The teams with the highest scores will be invited as finalists to present their projects at the award event. The number of finalists depends on the total number of contributions
Round 2: Based on the finalists’ presentation the jury will select winners. The number of winners depends on the total number of contributions (TBA).
What is the award ceremony?
The award event will take place in Vienna in October 2024 (exact date TBA). All finalists are required to present their intervention within max. 6 minutes to the Jury, which subsequently chooses the overall winners of the CircularCityChallenge. To be considerate of different presentation skills and preferences, the finalists can choose between the following options to present their contribution to the audience: video, audio, oral presentation, reading of a text or having someone else read a prepared text in their name.
All finalists will receive a trip to the final award event, by covering the basic travel expenses (flight or train and overnight stay in appropriate accommodation). For participants below the age of 18, CCC will also provide travelling support for at least one accompanying adult (parent, teacher, legal guardian) per group.