A team from Castle Rushen High School representing the international aid agency Toybox were the winners of this year’s One World Charity Challenge, held at the Manx Museum on Monday evening.
The six-strong team of Hannah Dixon, Hazel Matthews, Adele Harris, Danielle Akitt, Charlotte Darbyshire and Jack Maylin put together an innovative presentation based around a sketch of a music producer’s demand for a charity hit single.
It was an effective way to explore their chosen charity’s aims and objectives, and to highlight the ways in which Toybox successfully works to improve the lives of street children in South America.
Castle Rushen was one of six schools competing in the finals of the annual competition, with each team present having previously succeeded in getting through inter-school heats. As overall winners, Castle Rushen won ?3,500 for Toybox as well as the Frances Davidson Cup. They also picked up another ?300 as winners of the audience vote which was awarded separately.
One World Charity Challenge involves Year 12 students from the Island’s secondary schools and IoM College researching either a Manx charity that works overseas or a charity supported by the Isle of Man International Development Committee. They then put together a multimedia presentation on their findings, demonstrating an understanding of the charity’s goals and limitations and how their work meets the United Nations Millennium Goals to improve lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people of the world.
The prize grant pool is generously donated by the H&S Davison Trust and match-funded by the Isle of Man International Development Committee. In total a grant pool of ?22,000 was shared between teams participating in this year’s Challenge. Of this, ?8,400 was distributed among teams in the preceding inter-school competitions with the remainder being distributed to the other finalists as follows:
Joint runners-up King William’s College representing Mannin Africa Sponsors International and QEII representing School for Uganda won ?2,500 each for their respective charities.
The remaining finalists, Ballakermeen High School representing Action Saves Kids, Isle of Man College representing Pahar Trust and St Ninian’s representing Kocep were each awarded ?1,600 for their charities.
Judges of the event included Hon Minister Phil Gawne MHK and David Anderson MHK who both sit on the International Development Committee, Paul Craine from the Department of Education and Children, Jo Callister from the Arts Council and local charity representatives Haresh Measuria and Jacqui Keenan as well a non-competing student from each participating school.
One World Centre Director Rosemary Clarke said “Once again we were treated to a tremendously inspiring evening, with all the finalists working hard to evaluate and educate about the charities they had chosen. Castle Rushen was a deserving winner – the way they interacted with their video was very clever, and who knows how far their charity single will go!”
Photo - The winning team from Castle Rushen receive a cheque for their charity Toybox from International Development Committee Chairman Hon Phil Gawne MHK.
