The international public voting has now ended and we are proud to announce that the public’s favourites are…

• The project team “Waste Busters” from Kocaeli, Turkey with their exciting project “Lemna grinder”! Congratulations to the students Zeynep Sude Çetin, Bora Özkan, Zeynep Eyüpoğlu, Berfin Elçin, Kerim Berber, Umay Eskialp, Melike Damla Özdemir, Aslıhan Eşkin, Gizem İdil Tunçbilek and Bilgesu Gökçenur! See their video below:

• The best practice “StarT Day in S.O.S. Project Schools” from Istanbul, Turkey! Congratulations to S.O.S. Project Schools for their amazing collaboration! See their video below:

“Waste busters” are a group of upper secondary school students from Kocaeli, Turkey who wanted to do something about the pollution of wetlands. In their brilliant video you can see the students taking advantage of the aquatic plant Lemna minor and its’ capability to act as a bioremediator that removes heavy metals from the water. The students collaborated with each to create an innovative water purifier from trash cans, net and solar panels. During the course of their project, the students learnt about water pollution, heavy metals and they also conducted experiments to decide which energy source and which plant would be the best option for the water purifier. Amazing work!

“S.O.S. Project Schools” is an impressive voluntarily coordinated project in Turkey that has truly shown the power of collaboration: they have successfully activated 74 project teams across Turkey to create projects around the theme of endangered species and wetlands! The S.O.S. Project Schools had a common theme, endangered species and wetlands, and they activated learning communities around Turkey to work around the theme by different means. For example, participating schools had sister schools which allowed the students to exchange and discuss the results and ideas they got from their projects. The project teams collaborated also with local municipalities, associations and universities. The project groups across Turkey then created their projects which included for example drama, exhibitions, interviews, scientific designs, experimental projects, posters, art… All of these creations were then presented at the StarT Days, which was organized in each of the S.O.S Project Schools. Congratulations to S.O.S Project Schools on your inspiring work!

Also the rest of the videos gained an admirable number of views and likes, and we at StarT are really happy to see that the public voting is serving its’ purpose: sharing the discoveries and innovations created by both young people and passionate educators around the world! Hopefully the videos have helped you by offering plenty of ideas and inspiration for carrying out project-based learning in your own learning communities!

Once more, a big thank you for everyone for sharing your great pedagogical innovations and wonderful projects with us and the rest of the world!

The winners of the LUMA StarT Awards will be published in the International LUMA StarT Gala

Next step in the StarT 2017–2018 is the announcement of the twenty nominees that continue on to compete for the main prizes of StarT. The StarT jury consisting of several people is now busy making their decision on the nominees, and they’ll consider your votes when making this decision. On the 16th of April 2018, we will announce the 10 best project nominees and 10 best educational practice nominees. From these 20 nominees, the honorary StarT jury will make the final decision as to who will receive the awards of the international StarT 2017–2018.

As such, please note that even though being named as the public’s favourite or a nominee is an incredible achievement and truly something to be proud of, it does not mean that the group has won the grand prize (the International LUMA StarT Award or Education Award). The International LUMA StarT Award will be given to three project teams and the International LUMA StarT Education Award for three best practices, and these six groups are the ones that will be winning the trip to Finland to receive their awards in the International LUMA StarT Gala.

The International LUMA StarT Gala is on the 5th of June 2018 in Tampere, Finland. The gala is free of charge and everyone is welcome to participate in it. Unfortunately, we can only cover the travel costs of the six  teams receiving the International LUMA StarT Awards, but everyone can watch it livestream via the internet . Read more about the gala and find the links to watch it here (the link to the livestream of the gala will be added later). Also, remember to register as a learning community to the StarT 2018-2019 from May onwards! By registering you will receive additional information and support for carrying out StarT projects in your learning community, and the registration does not bind you to anything.