Rome, May 30th, 2011 - Jovanotti and Enel's Chief Executive Officer and Director General Fulvio Conti today conferred the awards on the winners of the 2010 International PlayEnergy Competition in Rome. The event was attended by over 300 young people from around the world, welcomed by Victoria Cabello, the special guest star hosting the event.
Once again this year, numerous schools participated in the project, accounting for over 460,000 students from 8,300 Italian and foreign schools. Of these, 125,000 participated in the competition, creating more than 2,830 projects.
With PlayEnergy, for the past eight years Enel has renewed its commitment to young people, promoting the dissemination of energy knowledge and awareness and involving children and young people in discovering the world of energy and science. Students in Italy, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Brazil, Panama, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the United States were called upon to demonstrate creativity and design skills in projects based on the theme "On the Tracks of Energy". The participants were put to the test in studying the energy situation in other countries and discovered the most common sources of energy and the most innovative solutions for using them without waste.
A CO2 neutral event
Respecting the environment and caring for future generations are the drivers of Enel's effort to neutralise the carbon dioxide produced by the events, sponsorships and other initiatives promoted by the company. This year, the PlayEnergy competition is also a carbon neutral event.
Carbon dioxide emissions will be offset by planting 450 fruit trees in Cameroon, one for each prize winner.
And even though they are far away, the students can track the growth of their trees through the www.co2neutral.it website.
ITALIAN WINNERS
The primary school category winner was class 5A I of the Pietro Novelli School in Monreale (Province of Palermo), under the guidance of teacher Michela Rescica with the project "Energy of the Mediterranean". Second place was awarded to classes 2A and 2B of the Don Lorenzo Milani School in Civitavecchia (Province of Rome), which presented the project "News from Madagascar", under the coordination of teachers Daniela Appetecchi and Paola Ferrari. Third place went to classes 3, 4 and 5 of the Bocasette Primary School in Porto Tolle (Province of Rovigo) who presented a project entitled "Energy in Wonderland", with the support of teachers Carla Girotti and Emiliano Pregnolato.
Special mention in this category was awarded to classes 5A, 5B and 5C of the Pilo Albertelli Primary School in Parma, under the guidance of Maria Adele Aloise, with a project entitled "On the Tracks of Energy".
In the middle school category, first place was awarded to the "PV3 Photovoltaic Cube" project presented by classes 3A, 3B and 3C of the Giovanni Leva School in Travedona Monate (Province of Varese), coordinated by Bruno Molinario. Second place went to classes 1A, 2A, 3A and 3B of the Giuseppe Romualdi School of Notaresco (Province of Teramo), coordinated by Filippo Bertoni, with the project entitled "Samso and the safe, auto-ecological house". Third place was awarded to class 3B, led by their teachers Sabrina Rubino and Marilisa Ficara Institute, of the Giuseppe Ungaretti School in Solarolo (Province of Ravenna), who presented the project "Energy Risk". Special mention in the category went to the "A Wind Oasis " project submitted by classes 1A, 2A and 3A of the Tula Secondary School, led by Matteo Ondradu.
Class 4A of the Duccio da Boninsegna Art Institute of Siena was the winner in the secondary school category with the project "You Can Do It With Feet", with the coordination of their teacher Neva Pini. Second place was awarded to class 5B of the Enrico Fermi Technical High School of Syracuse for the project entitled "The Future of Nuclear Power in Italy and Europe", under the guidance of teachers Eva Zanotti and Mario Caccamo. Third place went to the project "Energy for Sustainable Development" prepared by classes 4AE, 5AE and 5BE of the Emilio Alessandrini Technical High School of Teramo, under the coordination of Almerindo Capuani.
The jury also awarded special mention to class 1B of the Edgardo Simone School in Brindisi, which prepared the project entitled "Let's Grow Energy" with the help of their teacher Elisabetta Dassisti.
An award also went to the students from the A. Meucci School of Massa Carrara, which under the guidance of Andrea Farusi won the fourth edition of the PlayEnergy Master with a thesis on "Territorial Planning and Reducing Emissions".
The initiative gives fourth and fifth-year high school students an opportunity to find out more about university-level science-related issues. The winning students who decide to enrol in a science programme at university will be reimbursed for their first-year registration fees, up to a maximum of 2,000 euros.
PRIZES
Enel rewards the commitment and creativity of students, teachers and schools with a range of 'technological' prizes: Nintendo game consoles, electric scooters, Polaroid digital printers, electronic dictionaries, designer lamps and weekend trips to a European capital. In addition, reflecting a continued commitment to education, the top-placed schools in each category won the installation of a 2 kW photovoltaic system (alternatively, a grant of 6,000 euros for schools that did not meet the technical requirements for installation of the system). The second and third-place schools received prizes of 3,500 and 1,500 euros respectively.
INTERNATIONAL WINNERS
The Bulgarian prize winner was the Lubor Bayer Professional School of Construction, Architecture and Geodesy in Stara Zagora with the project "Energy: Past, Present and Future". In Romania, the prize went to class 10A of the Mihai Viteazul National College of Slobozia for the project "From Windmills to Wind Farms", while in Slovakia first place went to class 2 of the SOŠ Odevná Hrkovce School of Hrkovce for the project "Wind Energy, Eco-fashion Clothes and the Tree of Energy".
The winners for Russia were the students from class 10A from School ? 31 of Sredneuralsk with the project "Foreign Experience in Energy Saving", while in Costa Rica the winners were classes 1 and 8 of the Venecia Professional Technical School of Sarapiquí for their "Licuacleta" project. The top step of the podium in Guatemala went to Instituto de Educación Básica por Cooperativa Calahuaché of El Palmar, Quetzaltenango, with the project entitled "Let's Save Energy!". In the United States, the prize was awarded to the students of the EC Best Elementary School of Fallon, Nevada, for the project "Renewable Energy in Portugal."
This year, guests at the awards ceremony included a delegation of Spanish students from the Virolai School of Barcelona, marking the entry of Spain into the international PlayEnergy family as from next year.