Project leaders from 17 countries around Europe have submitted 40 entries for the prestigious 2014 European Athletics Innovation Awards.
Both the number of entries and the number of countries represented are the second highest ever for the nine editions of the competition.
Established in 1998 as the EAA Science Awards, the competition was open to all Europeans and attracted entries from a wide range of project teams and individuals, including university researchers, students, coaches and sports leaders.
The entries, which document work contributing to the development of one or more aspects of athletics, will be judged by an international panel of experts in four themed categories - Promotion, Coaching, Technology and Sustainability – plus an Open category. The judging criteria will be quality and relevance to the sport.
The panel is expected to announce the category winners in late August.
The category winners will advance to the final round in which the overall winner will be selected. The 10,000 Swiss franc prize will be presented to the winning project leader at the European Athletics Golden Tracks in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11 October.
The winning project in the previous edition, in 2012, was submitted by Charlotte Svensen from the Norwegian Athletics Federation and was entitled “Young Leader – To Create the Volunteers of Tomorrow.”