Sustainable Gender Equality Champions

Specific Challenge:

The “EU Award for Gender Equality Champions” is a recognition prize scheme designed as a booster and a complement to the Gender Equality Plans (GEP) eligibility criterion in Horizon Europe^[1], and as a tool for advancing inclusive GEPs and policies within the framework of the ERA Policy Agenda.

Expected Outcomes:

• Recognition of organisations with the most significant impact resulting from the implementation of their GEP, serving as role models for others;
• Strengthened gender equality and inclusiveness in the European Research Area.

The Prize will be awarded to four organisations, and contestants can apply to one of the following three prize categories:

• Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP(s);
• Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organisations without a sustained record of activity in gender equality that have recently completed the implementation of their first GEP and can demonstrate the most progress achieved through its implementation;
• Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP – namely a GEP addressing intersectionality, meaning links between gender and at least two other social categories, including for example racial or ethnic origin, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTIQ) or disability – and can demonstrate concrete results obtained through its implementation.

In addition to the complete application, contestants may be asked at a later stage to provide further documents (for legal entity validation, bank account validation, ethics review, declaration of honour, etc.) or to submit a short video message on their achievements in the chosen Prize category. This video will be used for communication purposes only.

Essential award criteria: Eligible applications will be evaluated in each category by a jury consisting of a group of independent experts.

The prize will be awarded, after closure of the contest, to the contestants who in the opinion of the jury best address the following cumulative award criteria:

• Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Criterion 1: Sustainable Impact; Criterion 2: Inspirational Model;
• Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Criterion 1: Progress Achieved; Criterion 2: Stakeholder Engagement;
• Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Criterion 1: Progress achieved; Criterion 2: Innovative Inclusiveness.

Eligibility criteria: Contestant must be private entities, public bodies, non-profit or for-profit organisations, including research organisations and higher education establishments, located in a Member State, an Associated Country, or a candidate country for the accession to the EU^[2], and must have a current GEP, as well as the GEP on which the application is based (if these are different) that comply with minimum process-related requirements set for GEPs in Horizon Europe General Annexes.

Applicants that have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.

The specific rules of the contest will be published by the European Commission (on the Funding & Tenders Portal but also actively publicised elsewhere to maximise participation), which will directly launch and manage the contest and award the prize based on the judgement of independent experts.

[1] See General Annexes to the Horizon Europe Work Programme (Gender equality plans and gender mainstreaming in Annex Part B – Eligibility).

[2] https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/eu-enlargement_en.