The Anna Lindh Foundation and Fondazione Mediterraneo establish the Euro-Mediterranean Award for the Dialogue Between Cultures, following the decision of the Heads of National Network taken at the Meeting of Heads of National Networks held in Barcelona, on 27 November 2005.

The Award will be dedicated to a specific theme each year, which will be chosen in accordance with the Barcelona Declaration principles and the mission of the Foundation. For 2008 Edition, the Award theme is Dialogue through Arts. The particular field of art chosen is visual arts in the following disciplines: drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture.

The following bodies will be in charge of all arrangements of the Award: Presidency of the Jury, the Jury of the Anna Lindh Foundation National Networks, and Anna Lindh Foundation Secretariat.

The presidency of the Jury consists of:

• The Heads of the Networks of two member countries of the European Union according to a rotational system on a yearly basis. Until the 2008 Award, these two countries will be represented by Malta and Cyprus, in accordance with the Dublin Euro-Mediterranean Conferences resolutions (May 2004), and other texts approved in following meetings;
• The Heads of Network of three Mediterranean partner countries, chosen according to a rotational system on a yearly basis. For the 2008 Award, these countries are on an exceptional basis four: Tunisia, Palestine, Israel and Syria;
• The Anna Lindh Foundation Executive Director;
• The Fondazione Mediterraneo (co-organizer of the Award)

The Presidency of the Jury shall have the following tasks:

• Choosing the annual theme of the Award;
• Choosing the presidency of the jury of the following year;
• Decisions concerning the reform of the Award

• The Jury is composed of the 37 Heads of Anna Lindh Foundation National Networks.
• The Jury elects each year the winner of the Award.

• The 37 Heads of Network will select the shortlist of 5 finalists for the final vote taking place among the national network members.
• Members of Anna Lindh Foundation National Networks will be requested to submit their nomination proposals for the election of the Award winner.
• Network members will also be invited to participate to the final vote on the bases of the shortlist of 5 finalists. The candidate who gets the majority of votes within a national network, s/he will be considered the candidate of this respective network.

Procedures of nomination of candidates and election of winners will take place as follows:

• The Presidency of the Jury will choose the theme of the year before March 1 (for the 2008 edition, the theme was chosen in November 2007).
• The Anna Lindh Foundation Secretariat will launch the candidates’ nomination procedure among members of the national networks on May 1st. The consultation will take place via e-mail and through the Award’s website.
• Members of national networks shall nominate candidates before June 10.
• Based on the nomination proposals addressed by members of the national networks, the Heads of Network shall prepare a short list of a maximum of 5 candidates before June 30.
• The members of national network will make online voting between 8 – 13 July. The winner’s election will be done via an online voting system by all the national network members.  The candidate that gets the majority of votes within a National Network will be the candidate of that respective Network for the Award.
• The candidate who is most voted out of the thirty-seven Networks will receive the Award. The winner will be announced before July 31.

• Candidates of the Award shall bear the nationality of one of the member countries of the Euro-Med Partnership, or of its observer countries (Libya and Sudan).
• Nomination proposals should include a C.V. of the candidate (maximum 3 pages). The résumé should highlight the most recent achievements of the candidate over the last 3 years. Moreover, attached sample of the candidate's work (image or link to online gallery) for evaluation.
• A candidate can be proposed either as an individual or as the representative of an organization.
• A nomination can be jointly presented by several members of national networks.
• Winners of previous editions of awards granted by the FM cannot be proposed as candidates.

The short-list will be selected by the heads of national network taking into account the following criteria:

(a) Quality of application and relevance of field of work of the applicant to the award’s annual theme;

(b) Number of supporting nominations for the candidate, taking into account the number of countries from which nominations had been expressed;

(c) As ‘youth’ is a key priority group for Anna Lindh Foundation, special attention will be given to candidates who have actively worked with young people or in the field of youth;

(d) Most recent achievements of the candidate over the last 3 years.

The winner prize will not consist of a financial contribution. The winner shall receive an honourable trophy during a bestowing ceremony, and s/he shall participate in at least another event of a national network (one of the events will take place in a Southern Mediterranean country).

• Online Virtual Gallery:

In the limit of available resources, the Anna Lindh Foundation will create an online virtual gallery (August 2008) with the best pieces of artwork of the winner and the finalists. This will have an added value in raising the visibility of the Award, Winner and the Foundation in general.

The Award Ceremony will take place each year, in the course of the second semester. Winner (or winners in case of equal scoring) will be invited to receive the Trophy during one of the Heads of Networks Meeting, or during the delivery of other Anna Lindh Foundation awards, or during any other prestigious event jointly organized between Anna Lindh Foundation and Fondazione Mediterraneo.

During the Award Ceremony, the winner will be invited to deliver a speech, and his/her speech will be published on both the Anna Lindh Foundation and Fondazione Mediterraneo websites.