RegioStars 2023: call for applications

News

20 March 2023

By Joint secretariat

The call is open for RegioStars Awards 2023 nominations! Every year, the European Commission gives recognition to innovative and inspiring regional development projects. Is this your year to shine in the RegioStars Awards?

The 2023 awards cover six categories:

A competitive and smart Europe
A green Europe
A connected Europe
A social and inclusive Europe
A Europe closer to the citizens
European year of skills 2023 (topic of the year)

To be eligible, the project needs to be closed and fully implemented. You should also be able to demonstrate results or impact at the regional level.

Pre-selection of Interreg Europe projects

If you see RegioStars potential in your Interreg Europe project, act now and express interest to participate.

We can support the nomination of up to 5 Interreg Europe projects. A project that has already been submitted in previous editions is eligible to be re-submitted this year. Our managing authority will make the final decision on which project(s) to submit for the RegioStars 2023 awards.

The path towards RegioStars advances through a series of steps:

Interreg Europe projects express interest in RegioStars nomination by 21 April
The joint secretariat and the managing authority review the applications and select projects to enter in the competition (end of April)
The selected project(s) continue to work on their applications and receive a support letter from the managing authority (in May)
The lead partners of the selected project(s) submit the final application through the RegioStars platform by 31 May

Note: the steps above apply only to Interreg Europe projects. If your project is funded through another programme or other type of funding, please contact the respective secretariat or managing authority for further details.

The journey ahead

The winners of the RegioStars Awards will be selected by an independent jury. The public will also be able to vote for their favourite between 14 September and 14 November.

After eligibility screening and initial assessment, the finalists will be announced in early July. The finalists be invited to an online training to pitch their project. The training will take place on 18-22 September.

The finalists will also be on the spotlight during the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels in October. They will have a dinner with the Commissioner on 10 October and pitch their project to the jury on 11 October.

The official RegioStars award ceremony will take place in Ostrava (CZ) on 16 November 2023. In addition to the award, the winners of each category will receive a local communication campaign managed in cooperation with DG Regio.