Selection report: Umeå 2014 - EYP Sweden’s 1st Youth Forum Astrid Vikström and Josefine Wallenå (Head Organisers) sat on both selection panels, with Maria Manolescu (President) and Ida Ståhl (Board member EYP Sweden) joining them to select the chairpersons and trainer, and with Christian Macht (editor) and Noura Berrouba (Board member EYP Sweden) joining to select the media team. In total, around 60 applications were received. The panels were very happy with the applications, especially with the great ideas suggested by applicants. The chairs’ panel selected one vice-president (out of three applicants) and one trainer (again from three applicant), as well as 6 chairs. While impressed with the quality of applications, the panel regretted having a pool of applicants dominated by UK, Irish and Swedish applicants. Due to the organising team’s intention to focus on improving the event and having announced it’s wish to select EYPers who are comfortable with the basic chairing methods, the panel decided to prioritise experience and creativity in its selection. At the same time, the applications were 80% female candidates, making it harder for the panel to ensure gender balance. The chairs’ team thus includes: 1 Romanian, 1 German, 1 Finnish, 1 French, 2 UK, 3 Irish and 3 Swedish EYPers. Out of these, 7 EYPers are female and 3 male. The panel would like to note that the board members of EYP Sweden who decided to apply to the chairs’ team consulted the president before hand; they did not have access to the applications, nor were they involved in the selection process in any way.
The media team panel selected 8 members for the media team. As 7 of the 10 people selected applied for the position of Editorial Assistant, the panel, in line with the Editor’s vision for the team, decided to select only members of the media team. The selected applicants come from Ireland, Spain, UK, Greece, Austria, France, Switzerland and Romania and with 6 female and 4 male members mirror the balance in gender seen with applicants, where 17 were female and 13 were male. One applicant did not match the age criteria (the session was announced as being for over 18-year-olds), another application came in an hour late, but was still considered due to the candidate’s different time zone. It’s also notable that 5 out of the 30 applications came from the Czech Republic. All applicants were informed individually about the result of their application. Applicants who were not invited to join the team were explained the reasons behind the panel’s decision and offered further feedback if desired. Successful applicants have also been informed by the main reasons that convinced the panel to select them. The deadline for chairs and media team was February 9th. The chairs panel met two days later and by February 12th, all applicants had been informed of the results and the chairs confirmed. EYP Sweden, Astrid, Josefine, Maria and Christian are thrilled to have such talented individuals on the team and are confident Umea Youth Forum will be a brilliant event with this officials team. For any information or questions, you can contact us at mariamanolescu@pejfrance. org (for chairs) or christian.macht@eyp.de (for media team).