MEDIA | NEWS ARTICLES
Over the last 5 years the Awards programme has generated
considerable media attention. By profiling the Awards programme,
and the individual winning projects, Childnet hopes to encourage
"best practice" and draw attention to the individual
winning projects.
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 The
Mirror, 25 April 2003
BRITISH KIDS SCOOP WORLDWIDE NET PRIZES
SARAH Bowler is hopping mad - and she's not going to take
it any more.
The 13-year-old is so angry about global warming that she's
set up a website to promote green schemes. And her hard
work has been recognised with an award in an international
competition to find the best websites designed by children.
The schoolgirl from Rotherham, S Yorks, was inspired to
launch http://uk.geocities.com/coolkidsforacoolclimate
when she attended a conference on the environment in Canada.
Last night she was alongside other enterprising youngsters
at the Science Museum in London to collect a Childnet award.
The Cable and Wireless Childnet Awards (www.childnetawards.org)
were established six years ago to recognise the innovative
work young people are doing on the net.
The judges of the awards, including the Daily Mirror's
Carol Vorderman, were overwhelmed by the high standard of
this year's 270 entries from around the globe.
They selected 12 outstanding projects as winners, giving
Sarah's site third place in the Individual category.
A Childnet spokesman says: "This is a wonderful example
of how young people can turn ideas into action using the
web.
"Working on limited resources, Sarah has produced
a simple, easy-to-understand website which has huge potential.
It is a superb achievement for a young girl."
Sarah says:
"I would like to see my project make an impact on
the minds of people and make them think about their actions,
reducing the amount of fossil fuels that they burn.
I would like to see the politicians work out policies
that think further into the future and sort out the mess
we're in.
We've got to stop climate change where it starts and
cut down our CO2 emissions now. It is brilliant to be
recognised for the Childnet awards. My website is very
new, and there are so many other great projects."
This year children at the Great Ormond Street hospital
won first prize in the Not-For-Profit category with www.gosh.nhs.uk/kidsandteens/index.html
The site is carefully split into different age groups and
allows children to learn about a range of medical issues
as well as have some fun.
"GOSHKids aims to be the health website by and for
children," says the site's children and families editor
Gary Loach. "The Childnet award is a great honour because
it recognises the importance of supporting children, as
well as their parents, through illness and health worries."
In the same category was www.webplay.org
produced by the non-profit children's drama company, Polka
Theatre in London. The joint British and American collaboration
uses the net to link primary schools around the world. The
children share information about themselves and then other
schools put on performances based on these details.
In the Schools category, Priory Woods in Middlesbrough
won second place for www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk.
The school caters for children with severe learning difficulties
and the website, created by teachers with the pupils, is
full of content to keep all ages entertained. "Children
and young people with learning difficulties face many challenges
in their lives," says teacher Ian Bean. "At Priory
Woods we believe that using the internet shouldn't be one
of them."
Stephane Derone, a Frenchman who teaches technology in
Colchester, Essex, set up www.bonjour.org.uk
to provide fun and relevant resources to help kids learn
French.
Games, quizzes and exercises are already used by thousands
of schools world-wide and Stephane has recently developed
Italian, German and Spanish sites.
Australian Andrew Fei, 16, taught himself animation in
order to create www.kidzdom.com He was congratulated on
the fun site.
Harry Potter fan site www.dprophet.com,
created by Heather Lawver, picked up first prize in the
Individual Category.
The 18-year-old from Virginia, USA, overcame illness to
help more than 100 children from all over the world serve
as columnists on the site.
Another group of American teenagers got together to launch
www.youthnoise.com.
The site helps young people become involved in issues such
as hunger, homelessness and HIV/Aids through campaigning,
volunteering and discussion.
A small-scale online newspaper for a school in Matera in
southern Italy at www.gdmland.it/giornalino_matera/giornalinomatera.asp
was recognised for its ability to help the children learn.
But first place in the Schools category went to a Willoughby
Elementary School in Canada for www.schoolcentral.com/willoughby4
The site is full of the reality of school life, and includes
excellent interactive learning resources created by the
children themselves.
Two youngsters in Cairo, Egypt worked with a American teenager
they had met online, to create www.youngbiznet.com, which
encourages young people to build online businesses. The
site, which came first in the New To The Net category, offers
mentoring and advice to young global entrepreneurs.
Runner-up was www.childsoldiers.org,
which children in war- ravaged Sierra Leone have set up
to promote peace and reconciliation.
Those who have been directly affected by war can interact
with others to share their ideas for peace.
"This project is already being adopted by schools
in Sierra Leone and there is tremendous potential to extend
this in other areas of the world where there has been conflict,"
say the judges.
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2000 | 2001
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| 2004 | 2005 |