From reporting to photography, campaigning to song-writing – the fight for human rights can take many forms, something the new-look Amnesty Youth Awards 2014 celebrate.
SecEd is a proud supporter of Amnesty’s work and we are proud to support these awards, which recognise and celebrate the passion that young people have for defending human rights.
Students aged seven to 18 are being invited to enter the 2014 awards using their medium of choice – written journalism, photo-journalism or music.
During the last four years thousands of students have submitted entries, with their work tackling a wide range of human rights issues – from bullying and sexual discrimination to child soldiers, forced marriage, as well as specific cases of human rights abuses around the world.
Last year, the reporting and photo-journalism categories saw entries from 2,500 students from across 200 schools.
The Reporter of the Year category invites students to produce a piece of journalism tackling a human rights issue of their choice.
The piece must include both factual reporting as well as insight and analysis and have “news value” and good use of engaging language.
There are separate awards for key stage 2, 3 and 4 as well as a 6th form/further education category.
The Photographer of the Year category sees judges looking for photographs that “make people care” rather than simply technical expertise. Photographs must capture a human rights issue that the young person is passionate about.
The photo-journalism award was held for the first time in 2013 when the only secondary winner was Nancy Cofie from The Charter School in south London, for her depiction of homelessness in the capital. This section of the awards is also being supported by PhotoVoice, an international photography charity.
Held for the first time in 2013, the Songwriter and Performer category is designed around the power of protest songs and performance. After learning about the history of protest songs, students are invited to write their own lyrics about an issue they care about, with lesson plans and resources available from Amnesty.
There are two further awards to recognise the campaigning and fundraising work of Amnesty Youth Groups, many of which are based in schools. The Campaigning award seeks to celebrate the impact of their campaigns on fellow students themselves and their school communities, while the Fundraising awards recognise the commitment of groups to raise money for Amnesty’s international human rights work.
Resources are available for schools, teachers and students to help them introduce the various aspects of the Amnesty Youth Awards 2014 and entries are open across all categories until February 17, 2014.
Full details are available on the Amnesty Youth Awards website, including terms and conditions. Visit www.amnesty.org.uk/youthawards
To access Amnesty’s education resources, visit www.amnesty.org.uk/education