YESC – The Young Energy Society Challenge is a competition created by the Koninklijk Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen. Ever since its founding in 1769, the Society has been running contests. After a long pause, this tradition is resumed and in 2019 in honor of the 250th anniversary of the society, a new competition was launched: YESC – The Young Energy Society Challenge.

YESC challenged all young people in Zeeland to come up with creative solutions for the switch to sustainable energy in Zeeland. The anniversary year 2019 is used by the Zeeuwsch Genootschap to strengthen the sense of urgency with regard to the energy transition, together with partners from all Zeeland educational groups, and to challenge young people in the ages 7-25 to come up with innovative and concrete solutions. This with a Zeeland-wide campaign, workshops for teachers and students, innovative educational material and a year full of activities that culminated in a large festival on 12 December.

As an interim member of the HZ University of Applied Sciences core team we were asked to guard the planning and come up with a marketing strategy to promote YESC in general to a broad audience, promote competing in the contest and promoting the YESC Award Ceremony.

Since the start of YESC, a Zeeland-wide campaign has been rolled out towards young people of all ages. Through innovative teaching materials for primary, secondary and 17+ education, various events such as workshops, lectures and guest lessons for teachers and students, a television program on Omroep Zeeland and a strong online campaign, YESC has strengthened the sense of urgency around the energy transition and awareness increased. A total of 120 solutions for YESC were submitted by more than 450 participants.