The first ever European eTwinning Prizes will be awarded today to partnerships with outstanding projects during the European eTwinning Conference being held in Linz, Austria.

A Maltese school, the Dun Salv. Portelli Primary School of San Lawrenz in Gozo, together with its partner, Cauldeen Primary School in Scotland, has been selected by a European jury among a total of 24 schools that will be finalists for one of 12 eTwinning prizes in different catagories. Each category will have two finalists, from which the final winner will be chosen for the European eTwinning Prizes.

The Maltese school, together with its counterpart, will be competing in the Best School Collaboration catagory. The prizes consist of an all-expenses-paid ICT camp on the Isle of Lanzarote, Canary Islands for 20 members from each partnership.

During its first year, eTwinning has proved very popular with teachers from all over Europe. In fact, more than 11,400 schools have registered for eTwinning so far, 100 of these being schools from Malta, which is very encouraging, considering the number of schools on the island.

“This is the first time these awards are being made and to have a Maltese school nominated for a prize is not only an honour for the students and staff of San Lawrenz Primary school, but for the entire country,” said Minister Louis Galea who congratulated the school on its achievement.

“Such achievements show that the efforts of teachers to integrate various subjects with ICT is having a positive impact on our education system and our students,” he added.

Dr Galea thanked the Department of Technology in Education that is responsible for the eTwinning project in Malta and encouraged all those schools that had not yet taken up the eTwinning project to do so in the interest of their students, as the project is of great benefit to the schools, the students and the community at large.