An international quiz on Europe launched alongside the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU managed to draw in more than 5000 participants, quiz organisers Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe (CVCE) announced Friday.

The quiz ran from 3 July to 31 December 2015 to coincide with the Luxembourg Presidency, as a means of improving the knowledge of young people on the European Union, its history, institutions, operation, symbols, key figures, countries and territories, and the role of the Grand Duchy itself in the European integration process. Participants were given 200 questions to answer on a variety of European-themed topics over the six month period.

"I really enjoyed taking part in the CVCE quiz every day, mainly because it was so varied and taught me a lot," commented Astrid Oetinger-Mueller of Germany. "In general I think we know far too little about Europe, so it's fun to test your knowledge and see what you know and what you don't."

These sentiments appeared to be a reflection of those of a significant amount of the population, with more than 5,000 people opting to join in the quiz and establishing it as the biggest web competition in Luxembourg last year. 22% of the participants were from Luxembourg and 78% from other countries in Europe. On average, around a thousand people scored the 200 points required each month to be entered into the prize draw for a chance to win Benelux InterRail passes donated by Luxembourg railways CFL, won by Philippe Clave from France; spa breaks donated by MONDORF Domaine Thermal and received by Hendrik Langen of Germany; or GoPro cameras donated by Nvision and POST Luxembourg, with which Simona Tomšic of Croatia will now be able to practice her skills. Some 200 people achieved 1,500 points in total which allowed them to join the running for the grand prize draw of a trip to Cape Verde, donated by LuxairTours.

On Wednesday 20 January 2016, Patrick Lamesch from LuxairTours drew the winning ticket for the grand prize draw, in which Madeleine Tost from Germany was announced as the winner of the Cape Verde trip.

"The Europa Quiz has become part of my breakfast routine!" Wilhelm Paul from Germany commented ahead of the prize draw. "I know that when the quiz is over next January I'll really miss it."

 


Photo by CVCE (L-R: Étienne Schneider; Xavier Bettel; Jean-Claude Juncker; and Lydie Polfer launch the campaign in July 2015)