Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland, winner of Holberg Prize School Project 2011 Alisa Mujanic and Holberg Prize laureate 2011 Jürgen Kocka. Photo: Marit Hommedal/Scanpix/Holbergprisen

An important part of the objective of the Holberg Prize is to stimulate young people to take an interest in the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.

Every year students at upper secondary schools in Norway are invited to carry out a research project in cooperation with established researchers. Three of these student projects are awarded prizes of NOK 15 000, 10 000 and 5 000, respectively. The prizewinning students are also invited to attend the Holberg Prize award ceremony. A teacher's grant is also awarded in connection with the Holberg Prize School Project.

Over 450 students have participated in The Holberg Prize School Project in 2011. Their projects span over a wide range of topics, among others; Why has the vampire fiction increased in popularity over the last years? / Can Adam Smith's liberalism give some answers to the challenges of poverty? / Different views on alternative medicine / What do we really know about the freemasonry? / Clothes as an expression/ How are exchange students taken care of in Norwegian Upper Secondary Schools? / Witches and witch processes.

Holberg Prize School Project's previous first prizes:

2011 / Cultural conflicts in our society / Mysen videregående skole
This study found that immigrant youth experience most of their cultural conflicts in relation to other immigrants with different cultural background than themselves.

2010 / Cheating in school/ Langhaugen videregående skole
Three out of five students have cheated on exams and tests in upper secondary school. Girls seem to cheat more – and at the same time they tend to have more bad conscience about it than boys.

2009 / Adaptation - From book to movie and back again / Fana Gymnas
Are books more read when adapted into a movie? In this project they found no such effect.

2008/ Wikipedia/ Langhaugen videregående skole
How do pupils in upper secondary school use Wikipedia. Are they critical in their use of this website, or is it a "copy/paste-culture" among the pupils? Are there any differece between girl and boys in this matter?

2007 / Happiness / Stavanger Katedralskole
Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, but are Norwegian teenagers happier than teenagers from poorer places? The Project studied Palestinian and Norwegian teenager’s view of their own happiness.
2006 / School lunches / Bergen Handelsgymnasium
Is there a difference between what girls and boys eat at their school lunches. And what about the difference between the pupils at schools with or without a cafeteria?

2005 / Local dialects / Vennesla videregående skole
The local dialect in the schools area is largely unaffected by the dialect of a larger city nearby, this project tried to find out why.

2004 / The Olympics / Oslo Katedralskole
Are the Olympics a friendly game between nations, or an arena for political conflict?

Prize for the best educational programme

In addition, the Holberg Prize School Project also awards a price of NOK 15,000 to the teachers who presents the best educational program initiated as part of the Holberg Prize Schools Project. The aim is to encourage teachers participating in the project to share their experiences with others.

Contact
Project coordinator: Barbara Wendelbo
e-mail: barbara.wendelbo@holbergprisen.no
tel:+47 55 58 90 45
mob: + 47 907 44 896