Jury of kids selects winners for first-ever 'Children's Prize'

In a first phase, adults had selected the 24 best projects. Then, on 10 April, it was the children's jury's turn.

RTL accompanied three members of the jury Noemie, Clara and Alexandre on this adventurous day. Here's how it went.

The excitement of the little ones is already tangible during the morning bus ride to Forum Geesseknäppchen in Luxembourg City. They squeez themselves between business people and tourists, chat with each other and just seem overall curious: "Where is it, when will we be there?".

Children from all around Luxembourg have travelled to the city with their daycare centres or caretakers. The Children's Prize is awarded for the first time this year, and 102 projects were submitted. Just as with the Youth Prize, the winners are chosen by children.

The staff of the National Youth Service (SNJ - Service National de la Jeunesse) welcomes the children and introduces them to the World of the Children's Prize: eight tents, lots of garlands, coloured lights everywhere, and the Luxembourgish singer Khalid Oke, who keeps the kids' spirits high throughout the day.

There is singing and dancing, and after a brief introduction, the children are divided into groups. The Children's Prize is awarded in two age categories: for projects run by kids from 0 to 4 years of age and from 4 to 12 years of age. The following categories are submitted in each age group: "my opinion", "my commitment", "my identity" and "my health".

Projects inspire the children's jury

In their allocated tent, Clara and Noemie are to decide on the health-related projects, which include, for example, the Children's menu project, where children are allowed to choose what they want to eat. "That's what I want at my day care!", says Clara later in an interview. Deciding for herself what to eat and learning what is healthy and what is not, is a good idea in Noemie's opinion, too.

However, the group does not discuss favourites just yet, as the SNJ supervisor teaches them to not push one's favourite onto someone else.

A whole series of projects focusses on nature conservation, but also on the topic of living together with the elderly. Alexandre particularly likes the project in which children do crafts with older people in retirement homes.

After the three finalists have been presented in each tent, it's time for the decision-making phase.

In a game, the children decide which of the three finalists' projects in their category they like best: 1, 2 or 3? Music starts playing, the lights go crazy and the children run around. When the music stops, they have to quickly make up their mind and jump on the number allocated to their favourite project. The project with the most "votes" wins.

However, the winners are not yet revealed! The award ceremony is not until 4 May. The winners will receive 500 euros; a lot of money that they can use to do even more exciting activities.

Winning isn't everything

Noemie, Alexandre and Clara had also submitted a project about collecting dirt, which unfortunately did not make it into the final 24. Alexandre, though, is not disappointed: "Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."

And after all, the whole thing is an experience that the children will not soon forget.