The European Parliament and the Foundation "International Charlemagne Prize", based in Aachen, presented the reconvening of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize in November 2009, and its initial deadline was on 22 January. Finally, projects can be submitted until 14 February.

The European Charlemagne Youth Prize is granted to projects undertaken by people between 16 and 30 years old, which should serve as role models for young people living in Europe and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community. Youth exchange programmes and Internet projects with a European dimension are amongst the projects selected.
 
The three winning projects will be awarded funding of €5,000, €3,000, and €2,000 respectively. They will also be invited to visit the European Parliament in the next months.

The European Charlemagne Youth Prize, which this year is awarded for the third time, is jointly organised by the European Parliament and the Charlemagne Prize Foundation. The Polish youth project "YOUrope needs YOU" was awarded with the first prize in the European Charlemagne Youth Prize (ECYP) competition of 2009.

National juries consisting of at least two MEPs and one representative of a youth organisation have selected a national winner from each of the 27 Member States. In April, the European jury, consisting of three MEPs, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, and four representatives of the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize, selected the three winners from the 27 projects. All the national winners will travel to Aachen to attend to the award ceremony on May 11th.