Ecopolis awards promote and honor environmental projects coming from a wide range of social, scientific and business activities in order to activate and motivate bodies, resources and productive forces from a variety of areas. Their target audience includes:

• Businesses that have implemented or/and supported projects and actions that help the protection of the environment
• Local government organizations whose activities and work protect local ecosystems and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants
• Organizations, Institutions, Services and Governmental Bodies that turn national policies into tools for environmental protection and invest on the reduction of emissions and the protection of the ecosystem
• Scientific Institutions and Scientists that orient their work to the research and study of the consequences of the lack of environmental stewardship
• Students and graduates of Greek Scientific Institutions, whose dissertations focus on the evaluation of measures to protect the urban environment
• Media and Journalists that hold the responsibility and the obligation to handle information in order to keep citizens updated on environmental issues and to raise public environmental awareness

The candidatures of Ecopolis awards should be distinguished for their high level of environmental awareness, demonstrated through their presentation and the submitted supporting material.

More specifically, the candidatures will be evaluated based on the degree they approach that they achieve in the following areas:

• Focus on avoiding environmental problems in a specific city as well as across the country
• Finding, describing and identifying a problem or problems of urban environment on a national, regional or local level, depending on the category.
• Leveraging research data or methods or evaluation systems of the problem and the action, depending on the category
• Orientation of the project or the nominated program and the pursued result as well as the cooperation achieved for problem solving
• Integrity of collaborating stakeholders (scientific, volunteers, etc.) in conjunction with the degree of mobilization of third parties.
• Completeness of purpose and effectiveness in relation to the involved parties
• Originality and creativity in implementation
• Duration and regularity of occurence
• Significance and ranking of the need at the local or/and national level

Under the responsibility of Ecocity and the organizing committee of Ecopolis Awards, the following committees have been established:

• Organizing Committee for the Awards and the Ceremony
• Candidature Selection Committees for each category
• Evaluation Committees for each category
• Publicity and Promotion Committee

The members of these Committees are prominent personalities from the Academic, Environmental, Communication and Business world.

Selection and evaluation procedure

The members of the committees closely monitor all parties involved in their area of responsibility (Scientific Institutions, Organizations, Services and State Bodies, Municipalities, Businesses, Media), so as to identify the most important environmental projects that were carried out during the previous year. The evaluated projects include actions, research, studies, schemes or communication activities that were developed or/and completed during the previous year (from the 1st of January to the 31st of December) and are proven to constitute initiatives that exceed legal obligations.

The folder with the final selections of the committees (5-10 for each sub-category) will be submitted to the organising committee of Ecopolis awards, which will announce the candidatures in January, after having contacted all shortlisted candidates.

Each candidate will gather and submit all necessary material (application folder) to the respective evaluation committee for each category. Evaluation Committees will decide on the winners of the Ecopolis awards, according to the eligibility criteria. The results of this procedure will be presented to the public during the ceremony of Ecopolis awards.

Especially for the category of Science Awards, besides the procedure described above, it is possible for scientific institutions or individual scientists to suggest candidates simply by submitting an application and a summary of the suggested scientific project. The Scientific Committee will then evaluate the proposal and decide whether to include the suggested project in the nominations or not.

Regarding the Dissertations Awards, all interested parties should submit an application form and a summary of the suggested project according to the guidelines. Nominations for this category are addressed to undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations that were completed during the past two years. 

After the selection of the suggested candidatures by the Selection Committees, the application file is submitted. The file should include:

1. ABSTRACT: A text of 200 words describing the project, per participation, that will be used during its presentation in case of distinction.

2. REPORT: A brief description of the project or program participating in the contest. The description should offer data and information for all chapters mentioned in the form available.

3. SUPPORTING MATERIAL: Material that accompanies the application and confirms the implementation, the output and the echo of the project’s result, depending on the category. (e.g. tables, photographs, maps, charts, video, publication covers, reports from press clipping etc.)

The application file must be recorded οn CD, which must be either submitted or sent by post to the offices of Ecocity in three (3) copies. Regardless of the course, the distinction or not of the application, the submitted material is not returned and shall remain in the archives of Ecocity.

The evaluation committee reserves the right to decide whether to increase or decrease the number of the awards for each year.

The organizing committee reserves the right to promote through the website of Ecocity and/or any other media the material of the projects, rewarded or not, upon its judgement.

In the case of postal submission of the application file, timely reception is considered based on the date indicated on the postmark.
Application files received by post after the announced deadline for that specific year shall be considered overdue and not be taken into consideration. Ecocity accepts no responsibility for potential loss or destruction of the files during the dispatch procedure.
For the submission of your application please fill in the application form and the description report of your project.

• January: Announcement of the candidatures
• March: Deadline for the submission of the application files
• April to May: Evaluation of the candidatures by the Evaluation Committees
• June: Ecopolis Awards ceremony

After the ceremony, a certificate of participation shall be sent to all participants of the contest upon request.

Organizations and Enterprises with high sense of social responsibility, regardless of their participation or not in the contest, have the opportunity to contribute by sponsoring this institution. All interested parties are encouraged to receive information on the cooperation terms and the sponsorship and support packages by contacting us at the following number: 210 6196757.