ECCA Virtual Reality Contest Winner

To celebrate International Mother Language Day and its Silver Jubilee we are delighted to announce the winner of the ECCA Virtual Reality Contest. The ECCA Virtual Reality Contest led by NPLD has aimed to bring together students of different linguistic communities to celebrate the linguistic diversity of Europe, where 40 to 50 million people speak one of the 60 regional languages spoken on the continent. The goal of this project was to have students develop a story and script that focuses on the interaction between three languages represented in NPLD and the culture that has developed around them, with the winner of this contest having their story being presented through a VR headset. With entries from across the different linguistic communities of Europe, the ECCA Virtual Reality Contest has undoubtedly been a success in raising awareness of the different languages represented in the NPLD to students across Europe.

This week was the final stage of the ECCA Virtual Reality Contest where the jury of the competition selected the story that will showcase the linguistic diversity through virtual reality and in turn bringing together communities across Europe.  We had many entries to discuss, and it was great to see the creativity of the students who participated in this contest in exploring the different languages and cultures of Europe.

For example, the jury were particularly impressed with the work of students from Wales that really embraced the theme of fantasy and combining this with a journey through Europe, offering a great visual journey for a VR headset. The Ladin entries that we received also provided the jury with a lot to consider when making our final decision. In particular, the final nominee from the Ladin community created an original plot that incorporated the cultural traditions from Brittany, Galicia and the Fassa Valley into a story that too the reader across Europe and its different landscapes. Our Basque final entries focused on the importance of the continuing to use regional languages and incorporating of the words of Joxan Artze into their story, providing us with a story effectively creating a strong moral thread throughout this script. However, the jury was most impressed with the entry of the students from the Catalan speaking school of Vedruna Palamós and the story ‘El tren de les llengües’. This story described a journey through Europe that incorporated strong visual elements interwoven with important message of promoting the use of the regional languages of Europe and the pride the speaker should have in using their respective language.

International Mother Language Day is the perfect day to celebrate the incredible work these students have done in highlighting and celebrating the diverse linguistic landscape of Europe and bringing together its linguistic communities. We would like to thank all those who participated in this contest, both jury members and the students who made this contest a reality and helped in making this very difficult decision of which group of students would have their story presented in virtual reality. Again, we would like to congratulate the students who wrote the story ‘El tren de les llengües’ in winning this competition and we look forward to working with them in presenting their story through a VR headset.