The National Stage Contest is organized in schools or other institutions in the participating countries. The Contest consists in answering the test questions (50 questions with four optional answers including only one correct answer). The questions refer to the forests and forestry in Europe as a whole and in  specified countries. The scope of the questions does not exceed the educational materials published on site Meet the Forests. National Commissions may supplement the questions by other activities. 

According to  the general YPEF  Rules of the Contest there are detailed rules of the National Stage Contests that are established by the National Contest Commissions. The national forest contest organized in a different way may be recognized by the YPEF International Commission as the respective YPEF National Stage Contest.
The winners of the YPEF national level will participate in the  European Stage Contest.

The National Stage Contest took place on 24th of April 2012 at the Technical Forestry High School Bruck / Mur (Styria), Dr. Theodor Körnerstrasse 44, 8600 Bruck / Mur.

In Austria the Contest was organized by the Union of Austrian Foresters and supported by the Ministry of Life.

The Contest language was Englisch. The Contest had two parts:
1^st category: list of questions
2^nd category: short Power point presentation about forest and environment

Participants are the students from 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes - Forestry High School. (2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b)

13 students came to the final round.

The National Commission decided:

Winner are:

1. Mr.   Johannes Rieder (4b),
2. Mrs.  Alexandra Russ (3a),
3. Mr.   Dietmar Wöls (4b)

The 3 winners will go to Estonia to the International Contest, together with Mrs. Prof. Bettina Gailberger (Member of National Commission and Professor at Technical Forestry High School Bruck an der Mur), Mr. Thomas Baschny (President of National Commission) and Mr. Wolfgang Schweighofer (Vice-president of National Commission).

Ing. Thomas Baschny
(President of National Commission)

•  National stage in Czech Republic. 

Regional rounds took place in four cities: Hranice, Písek, Trutnov and Žlutice and almost one hundred students from different primary schools and high schools participated. Winners of regional rounds (one team of three students from each region) will meet at the National round at Kostelec nad Černými lesy on  Wednesday 16. 5. 2012. Regional rounds had two parts. The first part consisted from written test about Czech and European forests, the second part was practical examination of knowledge trees and other nature parts. More info (photos included) at: ypef.cz.

The first step of the YPEF National stage in Czech Republic is organized in four regional rounds. Three of the regional rounds took place on 26th of April, the last one will proceed on 30th of April. 

National round, where the best participants from regions will qualify, will take place on 15th – 17th of May.

•  National stage in Estonia

More information: www.metsaselts.ee 

•  National stage in Germany.

In Germany the National stage contest „Young people in European Forests” 2011/12 took place at the end of May 2012. The contest has been organized by the Faculty of Forest and Environment of the University of Sustainable Development Eberswalde.
Three schools from 3 cities took part at the contestwith teams of 2 to 3 pupils:
•    Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium, Eberswalde (5 teams)
•    Barnim Gymnasium, Bernau (9 teams!)
•    OSZ Ostprignitz, Neuruppin (1 team)
Altogether 38 pupils took part at this first contest of YPEF at least. The pupils were at the age of 14 until 18 years. The tests were carried out in the schools by the organizers themselves or students of the Faculty of Forest and Environment. 
The best team is a group of young people at the age of 15 to 16 years from the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium in Eberswalde. 

The results in details:
Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium
Group 1: Jan Smolka, Linus Wegner and Richard-Philipp Kullmann (28 points)
Group 2: Madleen Krabbe, Mascha Peters, Alexander Merten (27 points)
Group 3: Adrian Bielefeldt, Franziska Wiedemann, Jessica Hoffmann (25 points)
Group 4: Clara Riehm, Carolin Fengler, Cecilie Posingis (19 points)
Group 5: Fiona May Benfer, Felix Fimmel, David Schmiele (19 points)

 

Picture: Teams of Eberswalde before the contest

OSZ Ostprignitz
Group: Jannik Krüger, Johannes Brandt, Wilhelm Krainz (20 points)

Picture: Team of Neuruppin after the contest

Barnim Gymnasium
Group 1: Pascal Westphal, Paul Pöhnert (23 points)
Group 2: Tim Weidner, Marius Strohbach (22 points)
Group 3: Ulf Sattelmeier, Max Hecker (18 points)
Group 4: Lucas Warmbrunn, Tom Schulz, Dennis Völz (19 points)
Group 5: Jenny Roll, Maximilian Dreger (17 points)
Group 6: Benjamin Fink, Lena Hirschfelder (15 points)
Group 7: Maximilian Gaigals, Paul Makoschey, Florian Glöckner (14 points)
Group 8: Ronja Zanzerl, Maximilian Baumann (12 points)
Group 9: Melina, Federica Pisarra (12 points)

Congratulation!
The winner of the National contest in Germany2011/2012:
Jan Smolka, Linus Wegner und Richard Philipp Kullmann
(Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium Eberswalde)

•  National stage in Greece.

The Greek Stage of the YPEF Contest was held on Saturday 19 of May 2012. The Contest was organized by the National Commission, which was designated by the Management Body of Parnitha National Forest Park, and was supported by the Special Secretariat for Forests.
Twelve (12) teams of 2 students, aged 13-17, who live in Prefecture of Attiki, participated to the contest. Congratulation to all the students for their effort.

The Contest language was English. The students had to answer to 50 multiple choice questions, concerning  a. general issues of European nature, forests and forestry and b. nature, forests and forestry of 19 European countries. The questions were selected by the International YPEF Commission. The Contest duration was 2 hours. Each team took 1 point for each correct answer and there was no negative rating.
The results were announced on Friday 25 May 2012 on the website www.parnitha.eu.
According to the ranking score the winning team is that consisting of Dimitra Filippi and Anastasia Zenteli, students of the 2nd Professional High School of Chalandri.
The second place goes to Kiprianos Antzoulidis and Konstantinos Gatzoflias students of the 2nd Secondary School of Glyka Nera and IM Panagiotopoulos Secondary School respectively.
Antonios Dimitrakopoulos and Konstantinos Andrikopoulos, students of the 1st High School of Thrakomakedones took the third place.
The winning team will represent Greece to the European Contest “Young People in European Forests” that will take place on 26-27 September 2012, in Sagadi, Estonia.

We wish to Anastasia and Dimitra good luck and similar success to the European Contest.

The detailed Regulation for the Greek Contest can be found on www.parnitha.eu

•  National stage in Hungary.

•  National stage in Latvia.

National Contest in Latvia

Final of the National stage in Latvia was held in 16 April, 2012. 9 schools from Latvia who collected the biggest number of points in firt stage were chosen to participate in second stage/final – to complete the knowledge test about Europe’s Forests.  Collecting all results were found three knowledgeable young people who `ll go to Estonia in Autumn time. They are students from Ventspils 4th High school:

- Agnis Kaspars Frišenfelds (47 of 50 maximum points)
- Maruta Roģe (47 p.)
- Roberts Bomis (45 p.)

JSC "Latvia`s State Forests" thanks for all National Contest participants and wish them luck in international contest.

Participants - 116 schools, 6800 pupils. The National  competition is held in two stages – first one is opened for all shools and during this stage the participants are collecting points for certain activities. They must: 1) plant the forest; 2) make the bird-house; 3) pick- up the litter in the forest; 4) do the forest lesson outside the school integrating the school curriculum; 5) go to guided forest excursion with forest professional. At the end, the best 9 schools from Latvia who have collected the biggest number of points are chosen to participate in second stage/final – to complete the knowledge test about Europe’s Forests. The Final of the National stage is held on the 16th of  April, 2012.As a result the best team is chosen to participate in international stage in Estonia.

•  National stage in Lithuania.

The National Stage Contest took place on 10th of May at Aleksandras Stulginskis University Forestry and Ecology Faculty. 18 pupils from various parts of Lithuania made 6 teams and took part in the Contest. Firstly teams represented them selves, theirs activities, daily life and local nature. Members of Contest Commission were impressed to see how creative friends of forest are. During the next part of the Contest participants were showing their knowledge by holding a test. To summarize the event it is worth to mention that all of the participants were great and charming. Maybe some of them just missed some luck.

1. Registration of the participants: 1st  of March, 2012.

2. Learning the material and preparation for the presentations: 1st of March - 10th  of May, 2012.

3. National Stage Contest at Aleksandras Stulginskis University:10th of May,2012. 

•  National stage in Poland.

On Wednesday the 18th of April took place in Poland the eliminations of the second edition of the YPEF contest. The competition was attended by nearly 2500 teams from more than 500 middle schools and high schools. 

Qualifying took place in about 250 schools YPEF. The results were being send to the YPEF  National Contest Commission.

 On 24^th of May in the „Crystal Hall” of Warsaw University of Life Sciences took place the final of Polish national stage of YPEF 2011/2012 contest. In the final participated 51 teams; 3 best teams in the qualifications from the area of each of 17 Regional Directorates of State Forests.

The winners with maximum score of 50 points were students: Rafał Wrzos, Radosław Barasiński, Mikołaj Górski from Prof. Stanisław Sokołowski Forestry School in Warcino.

They are going to represent Poland during the European stage in Sagadi, Estonia -€“ congratulations!

In Slovenia YPEF participants got through the run-off stage of the national competition. There have been 8 teams competing.

All of them get the chance in the national finals on the 17^th of May.

Rules for the National Stage:

    The International Contest „Young People in European Forests” YPEF 2011/2012 is targeted at young people from European countries. Its purpose is to promote the biodiversity of European nature, the sustainable forestry, and above all knowledge of the forests of Europe, with particular reference to Nature 2000 sites. The organization of the competition is based on the partnership between institutions responsible for forestry and non-governmental organizations dealing with forestry education in the countries participating in the competition. In Slovenia coordinators of this competition are The Scout Association of Slovenia and Slovenian Forestry Institute.

The contestants

1.    The participants of the contest in Slovenia are pupils of secondary schools, who at the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year were between the age of 14 and 18 years old.
2.    Participants take part in the competition in teams of three (one group per school). At least one team member must be good in English. Team member should be from different grades.
3.    The National Stage is composed of two parts – regional and national.

Subject range of the competition

3.    The topics include knowledge in the fields of nature, geography, nature conservation and forest sciences in the forests of Europe. The required subject range of the competition is to be found on the official internet page (www.ypef.eu).
4.    Each team answers the same list of questions, randomly selected according to the procedure laid down in the international regulations of YPEF, among the sets of questions prepared by the organizers from different countries and the YPEF International Contest Commission.
5.    The competition questions are prepared in English.
6.    Contestants prepare for the competition on the basis of materials in English posted on the website www.ypef.eu.

Competition process

7.    The First stage (Regional) of the National Stage takes place in secondary schools, which declare their taking part before the 1st of March 2011. There are 158 secondary schools in 12 regions. They can do this by sending their school application forms (one group of three pupils per school!) by e-mail at andrej.verlic@gozdis.s. The form must be signed by the headmaster (director) of the school and the coordinating teacher. Participation in the contest is voluntary. 
8.    While preparing for the contest, the students will familiarize with the YPEF materials, which will be posted on www.ypef.eu.
9.    The First stage (Regional) of the National Stage will be held on the 20st of April 2012, in all schools that have confirmed their participation. Directly before this date, schools will receive a list of question sets prepared by the YPEF International Contest Commission.
10.    In each school, a teacher will be appointed to coordinate the competition.
11.    Each school participating in the contest is required to carry out the contest on the 20st of April 2012, no later than by 18:00.
12.    The competition questions are constructed in the form of a test. For every question you get 0 or 1 point. The answer can be selected only once, no corrections or crossing out is permitted.
13.     After the test is completed, the coordinators in the schools will receive worksheet with the answers via e-mail. The tests should be checked according to this worksheet. The coordinator has to write a report on the ranking of the best results. All of this must be handed in before the end of April 2012 to the relevant member of contest commission. Tests and reports are reviewed by the National Contest Commission.
14.    The National Contest Commission is appointed by the Slovenian Scout Association and Slovenian Forestry Institute.
15.    The winning teams from regions – regional team scoring highest points, will do another test - National stage, on the 14st of May 2012. The procedure is the same as for the first – Regional stage. The results and reports must be handed in before the 18th of May 2012.
16.    The YPEF National Contest Commission is to check the tests and reports and provide a list of the results and the winning group. If there will be more than one group with the highest score, National Contest Commission will compare the sum of scores from the both national stages to get a single winning group with the highest combined score. If there still will be no unique winning team, these groups will be asked to prepare presentation about the competition topic and present them by the end of May 2012 at Slovenian Forestry Institute.
17.    The YPEF National Contest Commission will evaluate the presentations and declare the winning team.

Awards

19.    The main prize of the national stage of the International Contest "Young People in European Forests" YPEF 2011/2012 is the participation in the European stage of the contest. YPEF National Contest Commission will provide symbolic presents for the best Regional groups.
20.    The YPEF International Contest Commission YPEF determines how many teams from different countries will participate in the European Stage YPEF 2011/2012, which will be held in September 2012, based on the results of the National Stages.

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