The 25th edition of the Studitalia Prize was launched yesterday in Brisbane, an initiative born in 1994 to award the most motivated students of Italian in Queensland, Australia.
The Award is reserved for students of Australian citizenship attending Year 12 and consists of a 4-week stay at a school in Italy. Last year, seven Australian Queenslander students were awarded the prize and were hosted by Convitto Paolo Diacono of Cividale del Friuli, thanks to donations received from Italian education institutions, members of the Italian community and the commitment of the Government of Queensland through the Department of Education.
“This is a very important initiative to bring the new generations of Australians closer to our country, which sees the Italian community of Queensland and the local government working together excellently,” said the Consul of Italy in Brisbane Napolitano, who attended the official opening at the Education House. “This year, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Studitalia, we are planning a special ceremony for the delivery of prizes to the students within the Italian Language Week initiatives, with the direct involvement of the many Italian companies active in Queensland” the Consul concluded. Among the initiatives planned by the Studitalia Prize Committee (composed of the Consulate and the Queensland Department of Education, as well as Comites Queensland, COASIT-ILC, Dante Alighieri of Brisbane and recently Dante Alighieri Goldcoast and Griffith University), there is the constitution of a network of all Studitalia alumni to optimize the past experiences and further strengthen their ties with Italy.
Australia is the country with the largest number of Italian students as a foreign language (approximately 310,000), of which many in the schools and universities of Queensland with further potential increase. Recently Italian was confirmed to be the fourth most studied language in the world following English, Spanish, Mandarin.
