The European Commission on Thursday bestowed Regiostar awards at a ceremony in Portugal, and the e-Schools project of Croatia's Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET, which was one of the 15 finalists, was declared the second best project.

The project called “Rehabilitation And Restoration Of Cittadella Gozo”, during which an ancient fortified city on the island of Gozo, Malta, was restored with the support of EU co-funding, was declared the winner of the contest.

2022 marks a special anniversary for Regiostars: it is the 15th edition of the contest, which started in 2008. Therefore, the European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, attended the special ceremony in the Portuguese city of Evora.

To celebrate this anniversary, the EC selected 15 projects among finalists and winners of the past competitions and sent young journalists to these projects to create mini-documentaries on what has happened since the Regiostars nomination.

The REGIOSTARS Awards are a yearly competition, organised by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, in order to promote excellence and new approaches in EU-funded projects in the field of regional development. The event focuses on five areas that are crucial for the future of the EU regional policy.

Croatia’s e-Schools pilot project already won this award in 2020.

The project provided ICT equipment and digital education tools for 151 primary and secondary schools in Croatia. This helped 10% of the country’s schools to increase their level of competence in the use of ICT for teaching and learning. Along with ongoing support and training for teachers and principals, the resulting comprehensive approach helped to ensure the project’s long-term sustainability.

In 2022, the awards were given based on the result of voting on the  website of the “Regiostars Awards”.