teacher

Election
Coolest Teacher
in Limburg
Coolest Teacher
• Programme: Election Coolest Teacher in the region Limburg, NL
• Category of the entry: Brand
• Sponsoring newspaper: Dagblad de Limburg/Limburgs Dagblad,
part of Limburg Media Group
• Circulation and frequency of the newspaper: daily, six times a
week, 191.456 subscribers (source: Cebuco 2008)
• One-sentence description: Annual election of Coolest Teacher in
the region Limburg
• Target of the project + ages: Target group are students and
teachers (secondary school), age twelve to eighteen years, and also
their acquaintances (friends, family).
Project Director:
Branko Eijssen
B.eijssen@mgl.nl
0031-46-4116329
0031-6-53652506
Complete adress:
Dagblad de Limburger/Limburgs Dagblad
Redactie Scala
Mercator 3
6130 KW Sittard
Nederland
Description of the programme
Coolest Teacher in the region Limburg is an annual election for
teachers who work on a secondary school in Limburg.
It is organized by DWARS, the central youth desk of Dagblad De
Limburger/Limburgs Dagblad.
• Impression of the final event 2009
Dwars-reporters have visited
all schools in the province of
Limburg and handed out
thousands of stickers, hung up
hundreds of posters and talked
to students.
Students nominate their favourite teacher by filling in a
form on the website of Dagblad De Limburger/Limburgs
Dagblad. Motivation and a picture are obligated.
Criteria for the personal motivation:
• which teacher gives lessons at a most attractive way
• who can hold the attention of the students for a few
hours
• which teacher is able to set students at ease
• who speaks teenage language and also looks super cool
A jury (central youth desk) picks the ten best candidates
DWARS surprises the finalists (by the courtesy of the school
board) during their lessons. The teacher answers questions to
decide the X-factor of cool. In front of the (photo) camera
students are interviewed.
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In print and online the ten
candidates are being introduced to
the readers of the newspapers. On
the website they have their own
blog. Students can react in a
forum and upload pictures.
After the presentation the final
internet voting begins. Not only
students, everybody can choose
their coolest teacher. In print
twice a week and online everyday
there is exposure: latest news,
pictures, sideline stories and
videos.
• The candidates of 2009
On all schools in Limburg there’s
an election campaign: every
candidate has a campaign team,
that tries to promote their
favourite teacher in a very creative
way: posters, special campaign
clothing, interviews in local media
or at the regional tv-station, some
of the teams also decorated the
house of their favourite.
• In the end more than 20.000
votes were counted for the
election of 2009.
• The location for the final was
at disco the Zenith in Venray.
The teachers had to do several
assignments. The final result
was based on internet voting
and the judgment of a
professional jury (with winner
of last year).
Audience:
Tens of thousands. All students on secondary school in Limburg,
parents, friends, family and school boards.
• Impression of the final event 2009
Timeline edition 2008/2009:
• November 2008: website online
• Oktober 2008: start preparations
• December 2008: promotion tour at all schools, first articles in
newspapers
• January 2009: Selection of ten final candidates
• January/February/March: Visit all candidates, articles online and in
print
• March 2009: start internet voting and promotional campaigns
• April: Final
Products:
• 40 pages in newspaper, period:
December 16th 2008 until
April 10th 2009
• Website online between
November 2008 and April
2009: stories, videos, pictures,
blog candidates
• Click here to see
the Website
Development:
Financing and partners
• Financing: in total, roughly, 10.000 euro (marketing and editorial
office dividing costs)
Partners:
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Disco The Zenith Venray (location for the final)
Clothes shop Janssen Noy (clothing for make over teachers)
Gilde Opleidingen (institute for vocational training)
Other departments of Media Group Limburg (marketing, sales,
internet)
Marketing:
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•
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Posters and stickers for all schools
Coolest Teacher mini-van
Coolest Teacher clothing
Press release for relevant national and regional media, also for
schools
• All finalists in regional television show of TV Limburg
• Item on Kresj TV, youth-channel of government of Limburg:
www.kresjtv.nl
Evaluation & Results:
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4th edition in 2009
First edition in 2005: 100 applicants (teachers)
Fourth edition in 2009: 400 applicants
Pageviews on website: 160.000 (in 2009)
Every student in Limburg knows election Coolest Teacher
Election now has a great reputation among the target group a
newspaper hardly can reach
• (Secondary) education is in spotlights for a few months in a very
positive way
• Election stimulates students to work together, to be creative, to have
and feel team spirit and conduct a campaign
Janine Jacobs (teacher):
“For me this adventure was the
reward for all the hard work.
The big smile stays, the
sensational feeling also”
Mariëlle Hoolboom
(teacher):
“It was a wonderful
experience. Great to see
how all those students
were working together,
without me intervening
or interfering”
Fleur Wipperfurth (teacher):
“My school board was very
supportive. That was
great! They had to be
flexible and they were,
because my school was a
madhouse”
Alexander de Bruin (teacher):
“I’m proud, proud of my
students who made it
possible for me to enter
the final. Sometimes I’m
the boss, but most of the
time my friendship with
my students is the one
thing that counts. This
was a once in a lifetime
experience”
Marja van Bijsterveldt
(STATE SECRETARY MINISTRY OF
EDUCATION) :
“Thanks to this election
students are stimulated to
think about why their teacher
teaches so well. They have to
be critical, but that’s a good
thing. There is so many
negative news coverage about
the educational system in The
Netherlands. People have to
realize that being a teacher is
wonderful. This election is a
fantastic contribution to that.”
JEFFREY VOSSEN
(HEADMASTER BC WEERT):
“I was surprised how fanatical the students were
about this election. They did it all by themselves.
The Coolest Teacher proves they have more
talent than they might think.”
Movie
Click here to see a movie of the election 2009