In collaboration with the Austrian Society of Neurology (ÖGN), the Brain Health School Challenge was successfully launched as a pilot project of the Brain Health Mission in Austria and was successfully closed with an official award ceremony as the start to the Annual Congress of the Austrian Society of Neurology.
The imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna was the setting for a special award ceremony on 12 March – during Brain Awareness Week – to recognise the outstanding creative approach of Austrian school pupils in promoting brain health in the Brain Health School Challenge.
The Brain Health School Challenge was open to schools across Austria in three different age groups, and asked competing classes to submit an idea, strategy, or campaign to advocate for brain health and motivate other young people to engage in brain health activities. Classes were given complete creative freedom and were able to submit posters, videos, songs, campaigns, texts, comics – anything would be considered.
The fantastic diversity of projects submitted showed amazing creativity and engagement from the classes who contributed, with the topics of stress management, healthy eating, and mental well-being all dealt with in extremely imaginative ways.
Two cash prizes were available for each winning class in each age category (elementary, secondary lower, and secondary upper) – a first prize of €500 and a second prize of €250 – and the jury had a challenging task to determine the winners. However, in the end, the triumphant projects were:
Elementary school
1st Prize: VS Sierndorf (video)
2nd Prize: VS am Platz (advent calendar)
Secondary lower
1st Prize: AHS Heustadelgasse (art book)
2nd Prize: Sportmittelschule Tulln (video)
Secondary upper
1st Prize: BORG Pichelmayergasse (podcast)
2nd Prize: BORG Oberpullendorf (video)
You can see all of the prize-winning projects and our photo gallery here.
A total of 140 pupils attended the award ceremony, accompanied by their teachers and proud parents, giving the participating classes an opportunity to present their projects and exchange ideas with their peers.
The EAN would like to congratulate all the winning classes on their impressive achievements and thank all participating classes for their wonderful efforts. We are delighted that the challenge was taken up by so many and that the work and commitment that has gone into each project has contributed to the promotion of brain health at school and beyond.
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We would like to thank all Brain Health Mission partners for their support, without which this project would not have been possible.
