Rome, June 7th, 2012 Enels Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Fulvio Conti and Chairman Paolo Andrea Colombo today conferred the awards on the winners of the 8th edition of the PlayEnergy Competition 2011. The event, hosted by Alessandro Cattelan, saw the participation of a special guest star, the famous singer-songwriter, Tiziano Ferro.
With PlayEnergy, Enel has renewed its commitment to young people and schools by 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, Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the United States were called upon to demonstrate creativity and design skills in projects based on the theme "Whats your energy?. The participants were put to the test in studying the best energy mix for their countries, imagining the most common sources of energy and the most innovative solutions for using them without waste.
Once again this year, numerous schools enthusiastically participated in the project, accounting for over 415,000 students from over 7,560 Italian and foreign schools. Of these, 126,590 participated in the competition, creating more than 2,570 projects.
The grand finale held in Rome was an opportunity for all the participants in PlayEnergy to meet and exchange ideas. The winners receiving awards at the event included the Italian students and representatives of the foreign students who took part in the project. Special guests included a delegation of students that participated in Endesa Educa, Endesas educational programme which saw, over the last year, more than 175 educational projects carried out with 19,494 students from 347 schools in Spain.
THE ITALIAN WINNERS
The primary school category winners were classes 5B and 5C of the Benedetto Marcello School in Selvazzano Dentro (Province of Padua), under the guidance of teacher Giuliana Finco with the project "Blue energy, a new energy". Second place was awarded to class 2C of the Giovanni XXIII School in Cusano Milanino (Province of Milan), which wrote the book "Whats your energy?", under the coordination of teacher Tiziana Riccò. Third place went to classes 5A and 5B of the Andrea Mantegna Primary School in Brindisi who presented a papier-mâché model entitled Radiant energy, under the guidance of teachers Maria Nuzzi and Mara Scaltrito.
In the middle school category, first place was awarded to the "The photo-scholastic system project presented by classes 3A and 3B of the Giuseppe Leva School in Travedona Monate (Province of Varese), coordinated by teachers Bruno Molinari, Salvatore Musella and Carlo Vittigni. Second place went to class 3 of the Leonardo da Vinci School of Papozze (Province of Rovigo), coordinated by Cinzia Ghirelli and Matteo Novo, with the project entitled "Map of potential energy resources in the Po river. Third place was awarded to class 3A, led by their teacher Raffaella Gamba, of the Giovanni Boggiani School of Mongranado (Biella), who presented the project "Light as an idea". Special mention in the category went to the "Parody of the Super Quark" project submitted by class 2A of the Don Lorenzo Milani Secondary School of Grizzana Morandi (Bologna), led by Stefania Agostini.
Class 4A (industrial electrical technology section) of the Innocente Pittoni Vocational High School of Conegliano (Treviso) was the winner in the secondary school category with the project "The railway generator", with the coordination of their teacher Luigi Pavan. Second place was awarded to class 5 (industrial electrical technology section) of the Galileo Ferraris Vocational High School of Iglesias (Carbonia-Iglesias) with Trenipsia, under the guidance of teacher Corrado Lai. Third place went to the project Lets try to recover energy prepared by class 3A of the Stenio Technical High School of Cerda (Palermo) with the coordination of Rosaria Migliore.
The jury also awarded special mention to class 3A of the Carlo Gemmellaro Technical High School in Catania, which prepared the project entitled "Renewable Energy" with the help of their teacher Salvatore Fazio.
An award also went to the students from the Albert Einstein School of Turin, which under the guidance of Ferdinando Cabrini won the fifth edition of the PlayEnergy Master with a thesis on "The neighbourhood as a living being".
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 Wii game consoles, interactive globes, electric bicycles, mini-speakers for IPods, the educational game of How electricity works, Nintendo DS hand-held consoles with the game Practice English, designer lamps and weekend trips to a European capital. In addition, reflecting a continued commitment to education, the top-placed schools in each of the 3 categories 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.
WINNERS IN ROMANIA, SLOVAKIA, RUSSIA, UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL
Representatives of the other countries taking part in the competition were also present at the event. The Romanian prize winner was Class aXa MI3 of the Constantin Diaconovici Loga National College of Timisoara for the project Energy! Not a question anymore. In Slovakia, the prize went to class 3A of the SOŠ Drevárska School of Topo??any for their project Renewable energy home. The Russian winner was the 11th grade class of School ?8 of Asbest Town with the project The source of innovative energy.
In the United States, the prize was awarded to the students of EC Best Elementary School of Fallon, Nevada, for the project "Renewable Energy in Jamaica, while the prize for Brazil went to the A shine in the backcountry project submitted by the students of the Rui Barbosa School of Cafarnaum Beca (Bahia).
ENDESA EDUCA PARTICIPANTS
Students from three schools IES Castro da Uz, Monte Caxado and Moncho Valcarcecarried out a variety of research and monitoring in support of the environmental recovery of the As Pontes coal mine through the construction of a large artificial lake. After the conception and creation of the lake, the students planted trees along its shore.