CIVIC Hackathons will be organised in Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia by engaging communities in innovative non-formal activities, aimed to enhance their media literacy skills and critical thinking and to empower them to be active citizens.

With hackathons we aim at mainstreaming the exchange and cooperation among students and educators at national and transnational level, and with the community at local level, setting the ground for more sustainable commitment to the development of critical thinking and media literacy among citizens.

Teams of students 15-19 years of age, including students from vulnerable groups (minorities, with migrant background) will compette with innovative actions for public awareness campaigns in support of tolerant and participatory society in a digital age.

The concrete topics/problems that will be addressed during the hackathons will be linked to online hate speech, detecting and denouncing fake news, creating online content with counternarratives against hate speech, xenophobia, and other forms of discrimination, etc. Media and digital experts will be involved as mentors of the teams. Partners will involve also students and families from disadvantaged communities (e.g. with migrant background, from a minority community, etc. from the school or a neighboring school).

The winners in the hackathons will receive a budget for implementing the designed campaign/action at local level, and the best will then travel to Bulgaria for the student camp (as result of the competition described). The participating groups are going to develop a proposal for an inclusive campaign or action aimed at raising awareness on the importance of being media literate or to support the acquisition of media literacy at community level.