Pioneering politics in Europe is honored

The "Innovation in Politics Awards“Selects the most innovative political projects in Europe. Politicians are honored in 9 categories. A jury of 1.000 citizens determines who can take one of the coveted trophies home with them. 

How does home quarantine work for people without a home? How can the increasing number of parcel deliveries be organized without further burdening inner-city traffic? And what kind of support can politicians offer local companies in times of crisis? In times of the pandemic, politicians are challenged more than ever. New and courageous solutions must be found quickly to improve the quality of life for citizens. The last year's Innovation in Politics Awards have already shown that the crisis is clearly the time for innovative politics. 

This is the fifth time that the competition is looking for exemplary political projects. Initiatives can now be nominated in nine categories by citizens or submitted by politicians themselves. Politicians are still being challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. For this reason, the special category “Coping with COVID-19” will be continued. The other categories of the competition are: education, democracy, digitization, community, quality of life, human rights, ecology and economy. 

A pan-European citizen jury selects 90 finalists from all submissions. The nine winning projects will be announced in December. 

The most important facts and figures about the Innovation in Politics Awards 2021:

1. Submission: Political projects can take place until July 1, 2021 nominated by citizens and Filed online by politicians . 

2. Evaluation: All submitted projects are checked for completeness and based on the submission criteria.  

3. Citizens jury: Every year a jury of 1.000 citizens decides who will receive the Innovation in Politics Award. Interested parties can apply for a Apply for participation as a juror. All citizens of the 47 member countries of the Council of Europe are eligible to participate; Minimum age is 16 years.

4. Publication of the finalists: In September 2021, the ten finalists in each of the nine categories will be announced on the awards website.

5. Award of the winners: All finalists will be invited to the “Politics, Coffee & Cake” conference followed by a gala evening in December 2021: at “Politics, Coffee & Cake” they have the opportunity to meet guests from politics, business and the media as well as representatives of foundations to present their projects. The nine winners will be announced and honored at the awards gala. The respective format will be adapted to the current COVID-19 situation.

Political showcase projects from all over Europe

Since 2017, more than 1.600 political projects have been submitted to the Innovation in Politics Awards. Over 4.000 European citizens have so far participated in the competition jury and selected a total of 330 winners from 33 finalists. Germany is currently with 6 winning projects ahead of France (5) and Great Britain (4) followed by Poland (3). Last year won with RemiHub - Inner-City Delivery Hubs for the first time a project from Austria. The project won over the international jury in the “Quality of Life” category. That is the initiator and sponsor of the competition Innovation in Politics Institute with headquarters in Vienna and Berlin and agencies in a further 18 countries.