Following on the heels of last year’s success with the eSkills for Jobs 2015 European video competition, the eSkills Malta Foundation is pleased to announce that applications for this year’s competition are now open.

This year the focus of the competition is on video games, apps and educational digital skills. The first category, which is the Young Digital Talent, is aimed at young people, between the ages of 16 and 25 who have an interest in coding and video game development. This competition is open to all EU members and anyone with good digital skills, creative ideas and the motivation and keenness to get a foothold into this exciting and dynamic world . All that is required is a good working knowledge of the popular programming language Scratch. Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create interactive art, stories, simulations, and games – and share those creations online.

The second category is aimed at developers with outstanding digital skills which essentially covers teachers with a remarkable use of ICT in the classroom. This category is aimed at Teachers who enrolled in the 2nd round of the MOOC of European Schoolnet Academy. Interested parties will need to produce a video which highlights a lesson that focuses on the best way to develop students’ digital skills.

The third and final category is aimed at a slightly older demographic, 18 to 35 year olds, with a keen interest in coding and mobile app development. Anyone with a basic understanding of coding coupled with the necessary creative mind and entrepreneurial spirit, required to produce an app, should take part. Ideally the app should be of interest and use to the public at large. The winner in this category will win a scholarship to the App Academy in Amsterdam.

All submissions must include the eSkills for Jobs 2015-2016 campaign logo. Further details for the deadline and submission instructions can be found on https://www.facebook.com/eskills4jobsMT/ or www.eskills.org.mt. To see last year’s winners visit http://eskills4jobs.ec.europa.eu/winners

The eSkills Malta Foundation is a partnership of various representatives from Government, industry and education which aims to advise Government and stakeholders on matters related to the national eSkills policy and to contribute to the expansion of ICT educational programmes and related initiatives. The foundation also aims to lead an ICT professionalism development programme and encourage further reform in the ICT educational offerings, championing campaigns and promote the Maltese eSkills potential locally and internationally.