YPEF 2012/2013 - Rules of the Contest
International Contest ”Young People in European Forests” YPEF 2012/2013 Rules of the Contest

Participants

1. Participants of the Contest are school pupils from European countries in the age group dependent on the country, not less than 13 and not more than 20 at the beginning of the school year 2012/2013.
2. Participants take part in teams of two or three pupils. At least one person in a team is expected to speak English.

Contest Commissions

3. Each organization participating in YPEF 2012/2013 contest may be represented in the YPEF International Commission.
4. The YPEF International Commission and YPEF National Commissions will supervise the course of the contest directly.
5. The YPEF International Commission may, if necessary, make changes in its composition.
6. YPEF National Commissions may, if necessary, make changes in their compositions.
7. Participants of the YPEF 2011/2012 European (Final) stage may support the works of the YPEF International Commission in the field of promotional and organizational activities concerning YPEF contest.
8.Participants of the YPEF 2011/2012 national stages may support the works of the YPEF National Commission of their own country in the field of promotional and organizational activities concerning YPEF contest’s national stages.

Goals

9. Development of youths activity and integration by education are basic goals of the YPEF contest.
10. The teams of pupils get the necessary knowledge by themselves (non-formal education), share this knowledge and present results to colleagues participating in the contest during preparations for national stages and during the European Final. The course and organization of the workshop during the final stage should train the participants to cooperate and discuss
the problems of nature and environment above state borders and barriers.

Stage 1 – National

11. The organizations represented in the YPEF International Commission from the given country will be jointly responsible for the organization of the National Stage Contest.
12. Questions on the nature, forests and forestry of European countries (national sets), at least 19 countries and general issues of European nature, forests and forestry (European set) are prepared for the contest. For each question four answers are prepared and only one is correct.
13. The YPEF National Commission independently selects the list of national stage questions. The set of questions consists of two questions from each national set and twelve questions from the European set.
14. Each team of participants in the national stage in one country shall answer the same list of questions.
15. Participation in the Contest is voluntary and does not need to cover all the pupils from a school.
16. The YPEF National Commission qualify the best teams to the national final (if there is one organized). The criteria of promotion to the national final as well as the number of teams- finalists is up to the decision of YPEF National Commissions.
17. The participants will study for the Contest from the websites, booklets, textbooks and other materials produced or accepted by the members of the YPEF International Commission and distributed in all the countries that participate in the Contest.
18. The National Stage Contest will be held in each country on a convenient day between 1st of February 2013 and 31st of May 2013.
19. In case it is necessary, a run-off contest may be organized to select the winning team of a national final. YPEF National Commission will appoint the place of a run-off. The list of questions for the run-off will be selected by the YPEF NC in the same way as described in point 13.
20. The YPEF International Commission will establish the numbers of teams that participate in the European Stage Contest basing on results from the given countries.
21. The detailed rules of the National Stage Contests will be established by the YPEF National Commissions.
22. The International Commission may accept national forest contest organized in a different way as an YPEF national stage. In such case it will be accompanied by adding YPEF questions to the local contest.
23. The National Commissions may prepare new questions for the national stages and add them to the 500 questions database of YPEF questions. The new questions must correspond with the text of the official YPEF learning material (booklet).

Stage 2 – European Final

24. The teams participating in the European Final Stage Contest are expected to present the knowledge and promotion of the nature of their own countries.
25. The teams of pupils from all the countries meet in the host country. The European Stage consists of two parts. The first part is a test consisting of 50 questions. The set of questions consists of two questions from each national set and twelve questions from the European set. The questions are selected by the YPEF NC of the host country and remain confidential to anyone else until the final test taking place. The second part involves the presentation on the topic: “The challenges of forest management in your country”. The time for presentation of one team is max. 15 minutes. It has to be prepared in Power Point software. The presentation is evaluated by both: the YPEF International Commission (weight of 75% of the marks) and participants of the European final stage (weight of 25% of the marks).
26. The winner of the YPEF 2012/2013 International Contest is the team which gets the highest total score from the test and from the presentation.
27. In case two or more teams get the same total number of points the score from the presentation shall be decisive.
28. The host country for YPEF 2012/2013 European Final Stage is Portugal.

Support

29. National Stages and the Final Stage may be supported (in financial or participation form) by other institutions from a given country.
30. European Final Stage organized by Forestis – Forest Association of Portugal may be financed among others from grants by European Union.