Published on 07/08/2021 under News
Dear Reader,
Thank you for your interest in Thessaloniki 2021 - the 42nd National Selection Conference of EYP Greece. The Session was planned to take place in December 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. Before you continue reading my vision for the Jury Team and the Session as a whole, I believe it is worth mentioning that Thessaloniki 2021 is destined to showcase all the commitment and enthusiasm of the Leadership and the National Committee of EYP Greece.
I’m incredibly excited to join the National Selection Conference of EYP Greece in Thessaloniki in a role that in some ways shapes the future of human power behind the National Committee. As a Head of Jury, I’ll do my best to put full emphasis on the value of feedback, an incredible tool that makes EYP what it is in its essence - organisation for personal development, learning and acquiring skills and confidence in the process of meeting your peers from all over Europe. I truly hope that delegates will make use of this platform and allows themselves to benefit from opportunities around them - be those the ones coming from their fellow committee members, their Chairpersons or even, very importantly for me, engaging directly with the Jury team to break the barriers around the notion of being judged and observed, but rather understand what they can improve, how to leave this event with better self awareness and having clear vision of what EYP can do for them. While the Jury role might have been primarily about the selection processes, I feel like it really offers opportunities for meaningful conversations with delegates, enabling them to grow within the session and get feedback from the outsider’s perspective.
There are a few points I truly care for and wish to share with you:
Jury Members integrated into Thessaloniki community - when joining this session, you can expect to join the officials’ team that would really enable proper exchange and communication beyond simply our roles, outlining that we are a lot more than a set of our applications, tasks and portfolios with teams. The reality is that we can learn a lot from each other and I would be keen to explore avenues of sharing knowledge and life experiences that enables growth beyond what is expected from us at the session.
Understanding roles instead of selecting ideals - selection as a concept feels like something that needs to be thought through extensively, and for me the important thing is to make sure we offer understanding instead of judgment - giving people feedback in a way that would recognise their role fully and get better at it. Such a process can happen through Jury Talks or in informal setting, but my big wish would be to deliver a system with the Jury team which allows us to move away from grading and offer a more complex, but also telling overview of young people joining EYP Greece, their potential and opportunities for growth.
Jury training and personal development - Yes, it is possible to have Jury training and it is possible for content discussed to be directly useful for the tasks and assignments in the Jury team at the session - whether it deals with understanding of the Jury criteria or just sharing insights on how to perform in this role while being mindful of participants’ well-being and offer feedback well. Training would be delivered in a completely flat structure and every Jury member will be more than welcome to contribute and engage.
Hope to see your applications very soon!
Best regards,
Ilija Jerković (RS)
Head of Jury of Thessaloniki 2021
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