International Contest
”Young People in European Forests” YPEF 2010/2011
The Rules of the Contest

established on February 22, 2011, in Vienna

The participants

 1.  The participants of the Contest are pupils from European countries at the age range dependant on the country, not less than 12 and not more than 18 in the beginning of the school year 2010/2011.
2.  The participants stand in teams of two or three pupils. At least one person in a team is expected to speak English.

The organizers 

3.  The YPEF International Committee shall consist of representatives of the national forest administrations and of the non-governmental organizations that declare the will to organize the Contest, one or two persons from each institution.
4.  The YPEF International Contest Commission and national YPEF Contest Commissions will supervise the course of the contest directly.
5.  The YPEF International Commission will be appointed by the YPEF International Committee. Members of the YPEF International Commission may be also co-opted by the Commission if necessary.
6.  A national YPEF Contest Commission will be appointed by the members of the YPEF International Committee from the given country.

Stage 1 - National

7.  The organizations represented in the YPEF International Committee from the given country will be jointly responsible for the organization of the National Stage Contest.
8.  The organizations represented in the YPEF International Committee from each country will prepare a set of questions on the nature in their own country. The questions should refer to the program basis enclosed to the Rules. A set should consist of 20 questions at least.
9.  A set of questions is also prepared by the YPEF International Contest Commission. These questions concern general issues of European nature and forestry. The YPEF International Contest Commission may also prepare sets of questions for the countries not represented in the YPEF International Committee.
10.  Each team of participants in the National Stage Contest in one country shall answer the same list of questions.
11.  For each National Stage Contest the YPEF International Contest Commission will select the list of questions by a draw, separately two questions from each national set and twelve questions from the European set.
12.  The National Stage Contest will take place in the schools that will have responded to the call by the national YPEF Contest Commission. The participation in the Contest is voluntary and does not need to cover all the pupils from a school.
13.  The participants will learn for the Contest from the websites, textbooks and other materials produced or accepted by the members of the YPEF International Committee or YPEF International Commission and distributed in all the countries that participate in the Contest.
14.  The National Stage Contest will be held in each country on a convenient day in the spring semester of the school year 2010/2011. Directly before the contest day the list of questions will be sent to the schools in this country.
15.  The participating schools will send the results to the national YPEF Contest Commission. The results will be consolidated there and the national winner will be the team with the highest number of points. The YPEF International Contest Commission will establish the numbers of teams that participate in the European Stage Contest basing on the results from the given countries.
16.  In a country that few teams have obtained the same highest number of points a run-off contest may be organized for them in a place appointed by the national YPEF Contest Commission. The list of questions for the run-off will be selected in analogous draw from the sets sent before.
17.  The detailed rules of the National Stage Contests will be established by the national YPEF Contest Commissions.
18.  The national forest contest organized in a different way by the organization or organizations represented in the YPEF International Committee from this country may be recognized by the YPEF International Committee as the respective National Stage Contest YPEF. This may be accompanied by adding YPEF questions to the local contest.

Stage 2 - European
 

19.  The teams participating in the European Stage Contest are expected to present the knowledge and promotion of the nature of their own countries. Their presentations should be prepared on the program basis enclosed to the Rules.
20.  The teams of pupils from all the countries meet in the host country. They will start in two task categories. One category concerns the presentation of the nature of their own country during the YPEF workshop. The other category is the contest organized by the International Commission with the list of questions selected like in the article 6. The points in both categories are counted equally.
21.  The course and organization of the workshop should train the participants to cooperate and discuss the problems of nature and environment above the state boarders and barriers.
22.  The winner of the YPEF will be chosen from the teams who will have recommended the charm of his country to the rest the most effectively and who will win the questions contest. The best presentation will be appointed in secret ballot by all the pupil participants.
23.  If there are two or more winning numbers of the points the winner is the team with the better presentation.
24.  The official language of the European Stage Contest is English.
25.  The host country for YPEF 2010/2011 is Poland.