On Wednesday 28 June 2017, the 2017 Project Management Awards were held at the Chamber of Commerce in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.
The initiative, which commenced in 2008, rewards the best projects in the "Project Management" sector across cultural, economic and social categories. In the Luxembourg school's curriculum, this initiative is currently carried out in 12th grade classes in lycée techniques. For this 9th edition of the awards, 25 teams from 6 Lycées participated in the final, comprising circa 220 people including 170 students.
Managing a project in a professional manner
The main objective of the initiative is to offer students the possibility of carrying out concrete work in groups and under shared responsibility. After the project has been validated by the Lycée's management, the students are in charge of the design, the finished production and the public presentation of their project.
Students are also supported in their project by a sponsor from the economic, cultural or social world. Project management is carried out throughout the school year. The aim is to encourage self-management, to manage a project and to convey a taste for challenge.
It is up to each participating school director to make an internal selection of their best projects and to apply to the PM Awards for one or the other category of prizes. All projects that have a sponsor outside the school are eligible.
A jury, composed of members of the economic world, analysed the projects on the basis of very specific criteria. The quality of the project, its execution, the structure of the dossier submitted and the public presentation of the criteria used to evaluate each group. This year's jury was composed of Christian Kaempff of Kaempff-Kohler, Paul Junck of the Federation of Hospitals of Luxembourg, Muriel Morbé of the Chamber of Commerce and Blanche Lamesch of the Chamber of Crafts.
Winning projects
In the economy category, the "Buy a cake pop, buy happiness" project was sponsored by the "An de Wisen" care centre. Morgane Lefebvre, Lucas Da Costa, Mélanie De Morais Serrano, Liliana Mergulhao Coelho and Joana Fernandes Gomes from the Lycée Technique de Lallange, produced and sold cake pops at various events.
In the social category, the "Stop school dropout" project, sponsored by "Action local pour jeunes", won the award. The Lycee du Nord team consisted of Julia Kowalska, Betty Poos, Helena Soares, Ilma Adrovic, Gjovanna Zefi, Karin Schwickert and Liz Brand. The project is part of the European "Bridges to the future" project and deals with various subjects, including dropping out of school, which the students analysed to create various reports on the subject.
In the culture category, the project "Plug it Up!", with sponsor "Young Caritas" was rewarded. This team at the Ettelbruck Technical School was composed of Kelly Decker, Lisa Patat, Karina Dodici, Savannah Ribeiro and Valeria Thilmany. Their project consisted in the realisation of a music festival for a good cause. This has been a real success and the team has often had to deal with unforeseen circumstances but has always been able to find the right solutions. This is why the jury also decided to award the "Special Jury Prize" to this team and reward their perseverance and entrepreneurial spirit.
