eTwinning Prize 2024: Five Austrian schools honoured for successful digital projects

On 11 October 2024, five Austrian schools were honoured with the national eTwinning Award. With this award, Austria's education agency OeAD honours schools that have realised outstanding virtual projects with European partner schools. The eTwinning platform is particularly focussed on exchanges between pupils and teachers in the areas of digital skills, intercultural learning and innovative teaching methods. OeAD Managing Director Jakob Calice emphasises: ‘With eTwinning, the Erasmus+ programme offers an excellent opportunity to engage in digital exchange with other schools in Europe. I am delighted that so many Austrian schools are taking advantage of this opportunity. I am delighted with the excellent results of the projects and the positive educational impact that these international collaborations have on young people.’ Over 100 teachers and pupils from seven federal states took part in the eTwinning awards ceremony. Both the national eTwinning awards and the national quality seals were presented.

Five schools received the national eTwinning Prize 2024

The first prize was awarded to Katrin Wolfram, BG and BRG Krems, for the project ‘Mujeres que cuentan / Women that count’. The impetus for this European cooperation was the underrepresentation of women's biographies on Wikipedia. Together with two Spanish partner schools, the pupils researched the lives of women who are important to them, who ‘count’ and ‘tell’. The result was a joint e-book of women's biographies written in Spanish. The project impressed the jury with its excellent concept, wealth of ideas and good and continuous collaboration.

Second prize went to Claudia Gomsi, Mureck primary school, for the project: ‘Let's play!’ Together with partner schools from Finland, Malta, Serbia and Cyprus, country-specific games (indoor, outdoor and board games) were exchanged. The primary school pupils presented their favourite games to each other via video, tried them out and gave feedback. In addition to teamwork, tolerance, respect and fair play, this playful international cooperation also promoted ICT and English skills as well as physical abilities. The jury praised the active involvement of the young pupils in the project work.

Two teachers were honoured ex aequo with the third prize:

Lisa Aichelburg from HTL Spengergasse in Vienna for the eTwinning project ‘B-LAB: Business-letters-across-borders’, in which the pupils, in cooperation with young people from France, took on the roles of company representatives in order to exchange business letters, create company presentations and negotiate sales contracts together in class. Through these simulated interactions, the students learnt about cultural nuances, practised effective communication strategies and developed a deeper understanding of cross-border business dynamics. The cross-curricular approach and creative expression as well as the targeted use of foreign languages particularly impressed the jury.

Another third prize went to Nicoletta Tescaro from HAK Judenburg for the eTwinning project ‘Inside climate change’. Together with partner schools from Italy and Slovenia, the aim was to raise pupils' climate and environmental awareness through active engagement. After installing a weather station at the school, weather data was collected, regularly analysed and compared with the data from the partner schools south of the Alps and with climate values. The virtual exchange was followed by a multi-day meeting of pupils from Austria and Italy in Trieste in March 2024. One unexpected result of the project was the pupils' initiative to formulate a joint agreement on their contribution to environmental and climate protection. The jury praised the diverse pedagogical methods, the promotion of independent learning and the good integration into the subjects of maths and physics.

Patricia Gutjahr, VS St. Marein im Mürztal, was also honoured with a special prize for the European theme of the year ‘Well-being at school’ for the project ‘Olympic Unity: Connecting Austrian and French Schools’. Together with a partner school from France, the primary school pupils explored topics such as identity, sport, language and cultural traditions, made new friends and developed their intercultural skills in the run-up to the 2024 Olympic Games. The jury was impressed by the age-appropriate project implementation and the interactive collaboration between the young pupils.

All projects also received the national eTwinning quality seal.

The prizes were provided by FLIP LAB, Fratz Graz, Ars Electronica and Oper Graz.

Awards with the national eTwinning Seal of Quality 2024

In addition to the eTwinning prizes, the following teachers were also honoured with the national seal of quality for carrying out outstanding projects with added educational value:

BG BRG G11 Geringergasse (Tobias Pfoser for the project: Gamified Courses and Happy Atmosphere at School)
BG/BRG Lienz (Silvia Ebner for the project: Behind the walls: looking back is going forward)
BHAK/BHAS Deutschlandsberg (Elke Herler for the project: Better together - one world for all of us)
Bischöfliches Gymnasium Petrinum Linz (Gerald Landl for the project: EUROPEAN MENU: ‘From Earth to the Moon’)
Fachschule Schloss Stein (Lena-Marie Pregartner for the project: Our schools and the 2030 Agenda
Gymnasium Hartberg (Andrea Hadolt for the project: Mein Traumberuf: Start-up! / Il mio lavoro die sogni: start-up!
HLW Wolfgangsee (Eleonora Fischer for the project: Urlaub am Bauernhof / Vacanza in agriturismo)
Secondary school Haiming (Cornelia Tschuggnall for the project: INCLUDE ME)
Mittelschule Weitensfeld (Gerhild Robinig for the project: Hidden treasures - Skriti zakladi - Skryté poklady)
NMS Grafenegg (Helga Payer for the project: Different, but together)
VS Gänserndorf (Birgit Jürs for the project: How to make school cool)
VS Graz-Andritz (Verena Kogler for the project: Connecting across borders: 3 countries - 1 goal)
VS Maria Lankowitz (Nina Wipfler for the project: Give me five!)
VS Sigmundsherberg (Gabriele Winkelhofer for the project: Young Explorers)
VS St. Marein im Mürztal (Patricia Gutjahr, for the project: Olympic Unity: Connecting Austrian and French Schools)
VS Voitsberg (Dominique Neuber for the project: Happiness at school: languages, school environment and pedagogy
VS Waltendorf (Amela Alic Ertl, for the project: Look beyond the horizon!)
All winning projects will receive a ‘SaferInternet.at’ workshop from the OeAD to support their digital activities.

Award as an eTwinning school 2024/2025

The overall commitment of schools and the firm integration of eTwinning into the school concept were recognised with the ‘eTwinning School’ award. The eTwinning school seal was awarded to

Akademisches Gymnasium Wien
Federal Commercial Academy and Federal Commercial School Judenburg
GRG16 Maroltingergasse, Vienna
Weitensfeld secondary school
Primary school Rötzergasse, Vienna 
About eTwinning

eTwinning is the largest online school community in Europe with over one million users since 2005 and is part of Erasmus+. The platform provides a virtual environment for schools and kindergartens in Europe to collaborate across national borders and carry out projects on various topics. Teachers can take part in subsidised eTwinning seminars in Germany and abroad, and pupils can get in touch virtually with their peers in Europe. In 2023, there were 700 newly registered Austrian teachers, school administrators, educational staff and kindergarten teachers. 397 Austrian teachers took part in national and international eTwinning training courses.

Photos of the award ceremony: https://www.apa-fotoservice.at/galerie/38198