The EU Health Award is funded through the EU4Health Programme, as outlined in the Financial Regulation[1] (Article 207).
- The applicant is the sole liable in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest (Art. 207(d) of the Financial regulation).
- The winner accepts the obligations referred to in Article 129 of the Financial regulation, and of the publicity obligations as specified in the rules of the contest (Art. 207(e) of the Financial regulation).
Eligibility criteria
The applicant has been engaged or is currently engaged either:
- in cities, NGOs or other civil society organisations, and educational institutions seeking to promote communication and health literacy on cancer prevention among children and young people (from 6 to 24 years old) or
- in community-based initiatives led by local authorities or their affiliated organisations, NGOs or other not-for-profit organisations to alleviate the mental health impact of COVID-19
and is
- a legally established organisation registered in the Participants Portal. Participants can temporary register following this link and provide the 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC number) in the submission form. Natural persons are not eligible to apply.
The applicant organisation must also be:
- either a city with more than 30 000 inhabitants. In countries where no city has more than 30 000 inhabitants, the largest city is eligible to apply. A “city” is understood to be an urban area, including metropolitan areas, larger urban zones and conurbations, and is understood as an administrative unit governed by a city council or another democratically-elected body.
- or a primary, secondary or higher educational institution;
- or a legally established non-governmental body or other not-for-profit organisation independent from industry, and without commercial, business or other conflicting interests.
- or a local authority or an affiliated organisation. A local authority is an organisation that is officially responsible for all the public services and facilities in a particular area. An affiliated organisation is an organisation that is officially attached or connected to the former organisation (Art. Article 187 ‘Affiliated entities and sole beneficiary’ of the Financial regulation).
Furthermore:
- The applicant acts at international, European, national, regional or local level.
- Only applications from entities established in one of the following countries are eligible:
- EU Member States;
- Non-EU countries associated to the EU4Health programme.
- Only applications from single applicants are acceptable (applicants may have partners, but must file as a single applicant).
- The application must be submitted no later than the deadline referred to in Point 2 of the Rules of the Award.
- The application must be submitted using the application form from the EU Health Award page of the Public Health Website, accessible via the concerned submission page of the Award on cancer prevention and on mental health.
- The application must be complete: all compulsory fields of the application form must be filled in.
- Applications may be submitted in any official language of the European Union. However, in order to facilitate the evaluation process, it is recommended to submit the initiatives in English or at least provide a translation of it, as indicated in the submission form.
- Multiple applications by the same applicant are allowed, provided that each application is for a different initiative under the topic of this Award and all required documents are submitted for each application separately.
- Each applicant can only submit once the same initiative. If an applicant submits the same initiative several times, subsequent ones will be disqualified (starting from the second initiative submitted).
Exclusion criterion
To participate, applicants must not be in one of the situations referred to in Articles 136 and 141 (1) of the Financial Regulation.
Selection criteria
The initiatives submitted under the 2021 EU Health Award must include at least one of the following topics:
On cancer prevention
- Promoting healthy lifestyles among children and young people in general (advocacy, awareness raising, campaigns, training, education) through healthy diets, regular physical activity, avoiding tobacco use and/or preventing/reducing alcohol consumption;
- Supporting and creating enabling environments and infrastructures where children and young people can grow up, play and socialise in truly healthy and safe environments, where the healthy choice is the easy and affordable choice and where there is no (online) marketing and advertising of alcohol and foods high in fat, salt and sugar;
- Focusing on promoting healthy and active lifestyles among children and young people from socioeconomic disadvantaged population groups including migrants, ethnic minorities etc., and/or living with disabilities through actions that effectively reach and strongly involve them.
- Enabling a supportive environment and protection from exposure to sun light.
On alleviating the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Efforts to prevent, address or alleviate needs for mental health support arising as a consequence of the pandemic, or to raise awareness, tackle prejudice and/or stigma concerning mental health. These efforts should be community-driven or be delivered at community level (locally or targeting specific communities or population groups);
- Initiatives to provide support to groups whose mental health has been particularly vulnerable as a consequence of the pandemic and measures to contain it. These groups include children and young people, people with pre-existing health conditions, older people, migrants, those experiencing COVID-19, and frontline workers in health and/or social care. Initiatives should be delivered at community level and/or with involvement from the target group.
- Community-based initiatives to bridge or complement service gaps and/or delays that have arisen from disrupted mental health service provision as a consequence of the pandemic. These initiatives should be driven by people with lived experience of mental ill health and/or their carers (or organisations representing them), or build on peer-to-peer support mechanisms.
Award criteria
Only applications meeting the eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria will be further assessed based on the award criteria. A maximum of 100 points (20 points per criterion) will be awarded.
Technical quality and contextual relevance
Sub-criteria that are taken into account in the assessment:
- Relevance in view of the objectives of the EU Health Award: the initiative is relevant to one of the two topics chosen for this year’s Award, namely cancer prevention or alleviating the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Effectiveness and impact: the initiative contributes to improve health literacy on cancer prevention among children and young people, or to alleviate the mental health impact of COVID-19, and includes clear, realistic and measurable impact indicators. Any other evidence or appropriate indicators, if available, would be considered as an asset and should be included in the submission form.
- Transferability: the initiative could be duplicated – with necessary adaptations – in other comparable settings or communities, including in other Member States or at EU level. Effective methodology should be presented in the submission as well as lessons learnt.
- Sustainability: the initiative could be prolonged by the applicant without the need for considerable additional resources.
- Innovation and creativity: the initiative has an innovative and/or creative approach with regard to the target audience and/or the way the outcomes are put to use.
Following the evaluation, the 2021 EU Health Award high-level jury will select the winners and shortlisted applications.
[1] Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012