Young Reporters making headlines on World Environment Day
The winners of this year’s Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) international competition are announced today, World Environment Day (Sunday, June 5), by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).
Selected by representatives from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); European Environment Agency (EEA); International Institute for Industrial and Environmental Economics (IIEEE); and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a total of nine articles and five photographs were awarded.
Petr Daniš, FEE Executive Board Member and Chair of the YRE International Jury, said: “It’s inspiring to see the results of students connecting with the environment by investigating a local issue and presenting it to the wider community to create positive change.”
The competition is open to students aged 12 to 18 years who report on an environmental problem in their community via print or photography and in some countries video. Nationally, young reporters can participate individually or as a class. Internationally, collaboration between young reporters from different countries is encouraged. Articles and photographs which win or place at the national level may be submitted to the international competition.
This year’s criteria, submissions and winners can be viewed at https://youngreporters.wordpress.com/ and the winners are:
ARTICLE WINNERS BY CATEGORY
Agriculture: “The Rubble Trouble?” by James Scicluna and Christina Pisani from Malta
Biodiversity: (Joint Winner): “Making a stand for Avatar” by Liz Welliver from Canada & “Otters under the bridge” by Ffion Peregrine Davies and Garin Lloyd from Wales
Cities: “The smell of tar in clouds of dust” by students of Economic and Hospitality Secondary School from Montenegro
Climate change: None of the articles sufficiently met the criteria to issue an award in this category, but the Judges commend “The impact of climate change upon the fruit sector” by Elena Vasile and Bianca Paduraru from Romania
Coastline: “Is pollution damaging our coastline?” by Melissa Lambe and Efa Evans from Wales
Energy: “The low-carbon energy-saving washing machine” by Yangcheng Wu and Hongxi Zheng from China
Waste (Joint Winners): “Babies diapers: an environmental disaster in the province of Sidi Bennour” by students of Sidi Bennour Junior High School from Morocco & “In the end not everything is black. It is also Green!!!” by students of Neapoli High School from Cyprus
Water: “70,000,000 litres of rain water – should they be wasted?” by Beppe Grech and Christopher Busuttil from Malta
The SUPER AWARD for the best overall article goes to: “The rubble trouble?” by James Scicluna and Christina Pisani from Malta
PHOTOGRAPHIC WINNERS 1st-5th PLACE
1st place: “Withered leaves, flourished tissue” taken by Gu Jiacheng from China
2nd place: “Long life” taken by Ivan Čojbašić from Montenegro
3rd place: “Lazy polluters” taken by Ryan Vella from Malta
4th place: “Rebirth of a bottle” taken by Veronika Hašuľová from Slovakia
5th place: “The Fly” taken by Markos Loizou from Cyprus
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For more information contact Sarah Pickering, International YRE Coordinator, on: +45 33 79 04 08 or visit http://www.fee-international.org/en/Menu/Programmes/Young+Reporters.
Notes to Editors:
FEE has 23 member organisations running the YRE programme at the national level in Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Wales. Additional countries are set to join in 2012 when the introduction of new criteria and media categories, such as video at the international level, will also be implemented. For the names of national organisations running YRE and their contact details see: http://www.fee-international.org/en/Menu/Organisation. For the 2011 criteria see ‘About the competition’ at https://youngreporters.wordpress.com/
The Foundation for Environmental Education is a non-governmental, non-profit organization promoting sustainable development through environmental education. FEE is an international umbrella with national member organizations in 60 countries worldwide. FEE actively promotes and delivers environmental education through five programmes: Blue Flag, Young Reporters for the Environment, Eco-Schools, Learning about Forests, and Green Key. The FEE Secretariat is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information visit http://www.fee-international.org/en
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Young Reporters for the Environment 