We’ve won at the European Youth Awards!
It’s not like we’re deliberately collecting them… but they’re always nice to have.
Following on from a successful trip to MIT last month, Erase All Kittens have now been honoured by the European Youth Awards in their ‘Smart Learning’ category.
For those of you who don’t know, The European Youth Award is a pan-European contest to motivate young people, social entrepreneurs, and start-ups to produce digital projects that will have an impact on society. It demonstrates their potential to create innovative solutions with Internet and Mobile technology addressing the goals defined by the Council of Europe and Europe 2020 as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The awards are presented at a festival in Graz, Austria which takes place between November 29th and December 2nd. Come along, say hello.
Now it’s always a toss-up in these situations between being modest and self-effacing, which can be all very becoming and all that — and humble-bragging. Like this very post.
On balance, we’re going for the brag — because if we don’t enjoy moments like this it looks ungrateful… but way more importantly it gives us another chance to tell people what we’re doing. We’re building something which can help all kids to code and so equip them for 21st century jobs. And if Erase All Kittens helps adjust the gender balance in tech, then we’ve achieved something worthwhile.
But it’s not self righteousness which won the prize, it is this (in the words of the Grand Jury):
“Beautiful, playful design with a positive and needed purpose, Erase all Kittens acts as a teaching tool as well as an engaging form of contemporary entertainment. There is a great desire to get our kids into coding, yet this is an area of development that suffers in terms of gender equality. It is vital that we get young women involved in this sector, and this project attempts to do just that in a fun, interactive and logical way. The jury found great pleasure in playing through the demo levels, during which we smiled, we laughed but also learnt a little along the way. The character design and insanely funny narrative are the key here, and within seconds of play the jury felt a great attachment to this work finding it engaging, inspiring and smile inducing.”
We’ll settle for that.
Jimmy Leach is Chief of Busyness for Erase All Kittens.
