Winners of the 2020 #BeInclusive EU Sport Awards announced

At the online #BeInclusive EU Sport Awards ceremony last night, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, announced the award-winners for 2020. Commissioner Gabriel said: “Congratulations to the three winners of this year’s #BeInclusive EU Sport Awards, and a special mention to the other six finalists. 181 amazing projects were in the running this year and I hope all of them continue their excellent work – helping us to build a cohesive society, united in diversity, through sport. Their tireless work and energy remind us of the power of sport.” The #BeInclusive Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of sport organisations working with ethnic minorities, refugees, people with disabilities, youth groups at risk, or any other group that faces challenging social circumstances. The 2020 Awards were launched in April and open to all organisations established in the Erasmus+ programme countries – public or private, commercial or not-for-profit. Independent experts evaluated all project applications and their contribution to social inclusion through sport. Nine projects were shortlisted by a high-level jury, with three frontrunners: ‘INtegrative Championship – INclude and INtegrate!’ from Poland – supporting the equal and active participation of people with disabilities; ‘Surf.ART – Atreve-te | Realiza-te | Transforma-te’ in Portugal – using surfing as a means of reaching out to young people from areas with high levels of poverty; and the French project ‘Ovale citoyen’ – supporting social inclusion through sport of people of a migrant background, or people experiencing homelessness. The full details of the winners are available here along with information on all the projects. More information on sport in the EU is available here.