2025 European Social Economy Awards: Honouring Impactful Initiatives Across Europe and Beyond

Are you advancing options in housing, clear vitality, social economic system coaching, or work integration? The European Social Economy Awards 2025 is looking for entries that showcase excellence, innovation, and social influence throughout 5 key classes. Finalists will acquire high-level visibility throughout the EU and international social economic system ecosystem. Applications are open till June 16, 2025.

About the Awards

Launched in 2021, the European Social Economy Awards spotlight excellent social economic system (SE) initiatives throughout Europe and neighbouring areas. Organised by Social Economy Europe, the awards provide public recognition to changemakers within the sector and strengthen visibility amongst key stakeholders, policymakers, and EU establishments.

This is the third version of the awards, and it guarantees to carry much more momentum to transformative SE efforts—spanning schooling, public sector innovation, sustainable housing, clear vitality, and inclusive employment.

Award Categories

There are 5 thematic classes within the 2025 version:

1. Social Economy Training & Education

This class is devoted to establishments or VET suppliers providing progressive and high-quality schooling or coaching linked to SE expertise growth. Target beneficiaries embody professionals, staff, or people wishing to enter the SE sector. Eligible candidates embody each public and personal academic or coaching establishments.

2. Local Governments: Quality Social Economy Action Plans

Open to municipalities and regional governments, this class recognises authorities growing strong methods and practices that embed SE actors into native financial and social planning. Applicants should show a observe report of inclusive, efficient SE motion plans.

3. Housing

This class celebrates SE organisations providing reasonably priced housing options to fight Europe’s housing disaster. Examples embody social housing fashions, cooperative housing, and group land trusts. Only SE entities are eligible to apply.

4. Clean Energy

Designed for SE organisations advancing clear and native vitality alternate options. Eligible initiatives ought to help consumer-run fashions contributing to EU vitality autonomy and countering value inflation via social economic system mechanisms.

5. Innovation in Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs)

Supported by ENSIE (European Network of Social Integration Enterprises), this class spotlights progressive practices by WISEs that help employment and social inclusion of susceptible populations. Ideal entries will mirror greatest practices in job creation, coaching, inexperienced transition, or digital innovation.

Who Can Apply?

Eligibility depends upon the class chosen:

• SE Training & Education: Open to academic establishments and vocational coaching suppliers (public or personal).

• Local Government Action Plans: Open to municipalities and areas from the EU-27 and eligible neighbouring international locations.

• Housing & Clean Energy: Open completely to SE enterprises and organisations (cooperatives, associations, mutuals, and so on.).

• WISE Innovation: Open to all eligible Work Integration Social Enterprises working according to ENSIE’s ideas.

Eligible Regions:

Applicants have to be headquartered in any of the EU-27 Member States or in one of many following areas:

• Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia

• Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine

• Southern Mediterranean: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia

• Turkey, the United Kingdom, and EFTA international locations: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland

How to Apply

Applications have to be submitted earlier than June 16, 2025, through the official website. Each class requires a separate application. A jury of specialists, researchers, and institutional representatives will consider all entries.

Three finalists per class will probably be chosen. One consultant from every finalist organisation will probably be invited to the Gala Ceremony on the EU Social Economy Week from September 15–18, 2025, in Murcia, Spain.

Apply now

Contact

For queries, please e mail: contact@socialeconomy.eu.org

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