Journalists of the Parliamentary Press Gallery have started their annual search for the best young political writers of tomorrow. Their competition is designed to encourage students voice their views on government and politics. The winners are invited to tour the Houses of Parliament and meet leading politicians and political journalists. The topics for this year’s competition are:
Years 10-11: if you had half an hour to meet the Prime Minister, name one thing you would ask him to do to make Britain a better place, explaining why you think he should adopt your idea and how it would improve life for the people it would affect.
Years 12-13: imagine the Prime Minister’s youth policy adviser has asked you to devise an effective media campaign to promote a more positive image of young people. Set out the timetable and strategy for your campaign as part of the proposals you are submitting to the PM.
Full details HERE.
www.writenow.org.uk.
12 comments:
If you win, do you get to be political editor of the Guardian?
It's a sad reflection of our times that 12 and 13 year olds writing about politics are being asked to devise a PR campaign to improve public image rather than being given an opportunity to address a substantive issue.
Can you imagine a budding Gladstone or Churchill wanting to train up as PR executives!
I was about to post similar comments to londoner, but see I have been beaten to it! Yes, it's a shock that kids are being asked to devise a PR campaign rather than actually give their views on how they would alter policy.
It's no longer putting the public first and then devising policy based on need, but putting the policy first and then convincing the public it will help them!
"If you had half an hour to meet the Prime Minister, name one thing you would ask him to do to make Britain a better place, explaining why you think he should adopt your idea and how it would improve life for the people it would affect."
Resign.
Thanks for this Iain- I'm going to ask some of my students at the London Boxing Academy School to write about their experiences on the rough streets of Tottenham.
Did you know that my students are afraid to travel to Wood Green, (N22), from Tottenham, (N17), because they think they might get 'caught slipping', that is, travelling without their friends/gang and consequently mugged and beaten up.
Outrageous! No wonder kids hang around in groups. Its for their own protection!
Years 10-11 are children. The term 'students' implies something older than school children - a maturity to handle responsibility they should not be burdened with. Like sex-education for primary school CHILDREN. a point NuLab would do well to take in.
however I wish the children well in this essay competition, though I do agree with Londoner somewhat.
Did Maguire dream this up as a means of getting some new talent into No 10 to improve on the current bunch of 7 year old speechwriters?
barny said...
"If you had half an hour to meet the Prime Minister, name one thing you would ask him to do to make Britain a better place, explaining why you think he should adopt your idea and how it would improve life for the people it would affect."
Resign.
Not quite the words I would have used but I get the drift!
If the task wasn't so inane and patronising, I have considered entering.
How depressing and pathetic!
A great idea to give young people with a passion for politics an opportunity to see Parliament and meet politicians but why on earth do you feel the need to patronise young people by asking them such mundane and self-serving essay questions.
Why not ask them something really challenging like how they would handle the credit crunch? Or where they see the future of the EU? Or to explain why Obama is such a hit in Europe but not breaking through so much in America.
Why do journos and politicians always seem to think that young people just want to talk about themselves?!
Great: this competition will identify nascent single-issue bores and Westminster PR goons-in-embryo. It would be better if our budding political hacks had to write an essay on the evolution of our constitution instead of devising a media campaign - but that reflects the nature of politics today.
The Year 12 question:
Big poster of Gordon Brown picking his nose and underneath:
"R jeneration is better than ur jeneration. Sinned, Todays Yoof Innit?"
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