So much for perving Milo, I got this hot off the press from my subscription to MEDIES. Please pass on to friends, send in e-lists, or re-post wherever.

Secondary schools around the world have until 1 November 2007 to register for the 3rd Mondialogo School Contest (2007-2008).

Over 2,500 teams from all five continents are expected to participate.
As part of the launch, schools in 40 countries will organize a “Mondialogo Day” to present their projects and plans for the 2007-2008 contest.

Participating schools are matched with a partner team from another country to prepare joint creative projects illustrating a DIALOGUE BETWEEN THEIR TWO CULTURES.

Launched to coincide with the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May),the contest puts into practice the principles of cultural diversity and pluralism. According to UNESCO’s Director-General, these should be integrated into national policies, in particular those relating to education.

Teaching staff may register at
their school students aged between 14 and 18 years to take part in the largest global school contest until 1st November 2007. Following previous events in 2003/2004 and 2005/2006, the contest is now being held for the third time.

After registration, a draw is held to match participating schools with a partner team from another country or continent. The two teams then make contact with each other, agree on a joint project topic and work onthis in a process of continuous exchange.
The resulting dialogue between the cultures leads to the emergence of a joint creative project. This may be a piece of music, a play, a collage, a photographic documentation, a sculpture, Internet pages – there are no limits to the imagination.

In 2008, students and teachers from particularly committed schools will be taking part in the internationalMondialogo Symposium, where the partner teams will meet each other in person.After several days of workshops and joint activities, the three best
partner teams will be awarded sums of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 euros as part of a festive prize-giving ceremony.

Some 25,000 school students from 126 countries took part in the first Mondialogo School Contest in 2003/2004, instantly making it the largest worldwide contest for school students. The second contest in 2005/2006 exceeded even this figure, with more than 35,000 school students from 138 countries taking part.

The Mondialogo School Contest is a constituent part of the Mondialogo –Intercultural Dialogue and Exchange initiative, which was launched in October 2003 by UNESCO and DaimlerChrysler.

For more information please contact: a.hamshari@unesco.org
and at http://www.mondialogo.org.