Azorean youngsters Ricardo Lima and Alexandre Pacheco have won the Medal of Excellence in Carpentry and Electricity, respectively, at EuroSkills 2014, which took place in the French city of Lille.
The Medal of Excellence is only awarded to participants who score over 500 points in their tests. Therefore, it is considered the European title in each of the 50 occupations under competition.
The event gathered participants from about thirty European countries and was attended by over 10 thousand people. The tests covered areas such hotel and catering, computer networks, gardening, construction as well as science and technology.
The Azorean participants, who were part of the Portuguese delegation, were selected for the competition at this year's edition of the National Skills Championship that took place in the city of Porto last May.
The concept of Skills Championship dates back to 1950, when the first International Skills Championship was held in Madrid. At the time, it took place between Portugal and Spain.
The consolidation of this initiative led to the creation, still in the 1950s, of an organisation currently designated as WorldSkills International (http://www.worldskills.org/).
In the first two decades, its growth was Europe-oriented. But, starting in 1967, the initiative was extended to other countries. Nowadays, it involves 67 countries across the world.
In addition to this worldwide organisation, the European Skills Promotion Organisation, presently designated as WorldSkills Europe (http://www.worldskills.org/), was created in 2007; it brings together participants from 27 European countries. The organisation is in charge of hosting the European Skills Championship - EuroSkills every two years.
Whether in the European competition or in the world event, Azorean participants have a remarkable record of good performances, including champion titles and many medals.