Celebrating Excellence: Golden Laissez Passer, Version I – Honoring WE AfriHug’s Empowering Vision

From May to November 2017, an international online community diligently selected the six best talents to reach the final stage of the Golden Laissez-Passer contest. These exceptional individuals showcased their talents during the Gala Night, where they presented their visions on how to utilize the final prize.

On January 25th, 2018, the highly anticipated award ceremony of the Golden Laissez-Passer took place, crowning our co-founder, Konstantinos Maragkos, as the Best Erasmus Talent of 2017. The esteemed jury, consisting of Foundation Members, awarded him 3,000€ for his exemplary project, “WE AfriHug,” dedicated to empowering African youth through education in high-schools and universities. The votes expressed by the jury were as follows: Konstantinos 68, Başak 66, Gevorg 57, Veronika 52, Patrick 53, and Adina 43. The overwhelming support from 495 people who voted played a crucial role in securing Konstantinos’s victory among almost 15,000 participants. Despite being miles away in Uganda, he skillfully delivered an 8-minute presentation via Skype during the annual meeting of garagErasmus, impressing the Foundation members, who awarded him with 68 points, securing his well-deserved first place.

You can watch the video of the ceremony here.