2008 CHANGEit Innovation Awards Finalists
Smile with Style
| Who? |
Tara Ifill (age 14) |
| Where? |
Southeast London |
| What? |
Smile with Style is a campaign which aims to get kids helping kids. Tara’s idea is to have youth from her school and other schools and youth clubs in Southeast London design T-shirts to sell for the charity Smile Train and for funds to go back into local youth clubs. By having an activity for young people to engage in, they stay off streets and out of trouble. By raising money, they have an opportunity to both improve their local area youth clubs and help a charity that gives young children a smile. |
Smile with Style blog
Was it really worth it?
| Who? |
Robert Chisolm (age 13) , Helen Adams (age 13), Michael Young(age 14) and Charlotte Sim (age 14) |
| Where? |
Newcastle |
| What? |
Was it Really Worth it? is a campaign focusing on educating young people about the dangers of teen pregnancy. The group felt that as students in a private school, not much information addressed this subject because people don’t think it could happen in a private school. They also recognised a gap in PSHE education for years 7 through 9 meaning young people aren’t talking about issues that are important before they get to year 10. The aim is to create awareness of the issue both within school and the local area and create support options for those who may already be pregnant or think they’re pregnant (both girls and the boys involved). |
Was it really worth it? blog
Rooftop Gorillaz
| Who? |
Paul Burnell (age 14), Jake Newsome (age 15), Mark Pike (age 15) and Dylan Meister (age 13) |
| Where? |
Leeds |
| What? |
The Rooftop Gorillaz are a group of free-runners from Leeds who want to campaign to have a free-running training park built in the local area. Free-running is a physical art in which participants attempt to pass all obstacles in their path in a smooth and fluid way. The training park would create a safe place for free-runners to practice and keep free-runners from getting in trouble for practicing in various areas throughout Leeds. It would also offer an opportunity for people interested to learn more about free-running and take the sport up themselves. The group already has a petition with 700 names in support of the park. |
Rooftop Gorillaz blog
Upfront Magazine
| Who? |
Kirsty Jasper, Rosie Hunt, Charlie Haggar, Antonia Hughes, Nathan Grannum-Paul, Elsie Pappoe, Robert King, April Gibbons, Samantha Waters, Sydney Costello, Lisa Denecker, Preston Miranda, Sarah Kisser, Jodie Beadle, Ashley Groves, Karolina Wisniewska, Blessing Aghlor, Chloe Fells and Charanjit Kaur (all aged 15-16) |
| Where? |
Kent |
| What? |
Upfront Magazine began as a student idea to replace the boring school newsletter. The group wanted to be able to distribute something interesting and colourful, but most importantly things written by students for students on subjects they’re interested in or affect them. The goal is to not only create an informative and fun magazine for students and teachers, but also to try and take the magazine to the community to keep them up to date on both the school and young people in general. They also look forward to learning about how to run the magazine as a business enterprise. |
Upfront Magazine blog
Squeaky Clean Kids
| Who? |
Bryonie Sorby (age 13), Ryan Wenn (age 13), Jodami Jenkins (age 14) and Emma Blackwood (age 13) |
| Where? |
Hartlepool |
| What? |
Squeaky Clean Kids is a campaign to clean up some of the main areas of Hartlepool. The group selected Wynyard road because it’s a busy area with many shops, but is in dire need of a clean-up. The group feel that by getting young people involved in the clean-up it’ll give them something to do, pride in their local area and help local businesses at the same time. They have a list of a number of other areas to clean as well in the hopes that once a place is clean, people will take more care to keep it that way, working on keeping Hartlepool clean in the long-term. |
Squeaky Clean Kids blog
Ask?
| Who? |
Niall Wootten (age 13), Michael Craggs (age 14), Mathew Quinn (age 14) and Liam Allcock (age 14) |
| Where? |
Newcastle |
| What? |
Ask? is a campaign to provide support services for teens at St. Cuthbert’s high school. There are a number of students in the school who smoke, and many others who have questions about personal issues, but don’t want to go to their parents and don’t have any other avenue. The group would look to set up a space within the school where young people can go to speak with a counsellor, nurse or other individual to get the support they need. |
Ask? blog
We Want to Work
| Who? |
Lewis Blackley (age 14), Jamie McGovern (age 14) and Emma McKie (age 14) |
| Where? |
Edinburgh, Scotland |
| What? |
We Want to Work is a campaign for exactly what it says. This group wants to create work experience for individuals under 16 that can provide practical training and skills and give them exposure to a variety of jobs they might want to pursue in the future. They feel job experience is very important, but there aren’t many options for under 16’s to try things out. |
We Want to Work blog
Get Ca$h, Keep Ca$h
| Who? |
Henry Cook (age 13), Alex Partington (age 13), Luke Martin-Fuller (age 13) and Vignesh Paleri (age 14) |
| Where? |
Newcastle |
| What? |
Get Ca$h, Keep Ca$h is a campaign to inform young people about responsible finances via a website. The group feels too many young people just ask their parents for money without realising how they spend it or where it comes from. The aim is to inform young people about good finances early so as they leave for uni and beyond, they’re prepared both personally and informed about future finance issues like student loans and mortgages. |
Get Ca$h Keep Ca$h blog