A Big Challenge for young people

Tags: charity | community involvement | competitions | youth activity

The Big Challenge competition for young people is launching at the end of April.  The contest, now in its second year, challenges young people aged 16 and 25 to come up with an idea that will make a change in their community.

The competition question young people need to address is: "Many cultures, many individuals, how can you create unity in your community?"

The coveted prize is a share of £60,000 funding to help the young winner(s) make their concept a reality. The projects chosen will be those which find an effective way of using volunteering to tackle current problems.

This year's Big Challenge theme is founded on ‘bringing communities together,' hence the community focus.

Unltd, the charity launching the competition, supports social entrepreneurs: people trying to make a positive impact on the world through creative ideas and commitment. The social enterprise foundation organises the competition and funds it along with Vodafone and youth charity ‘V'.

Competition entrants can be individuals or group members, as long as they are all within the age limit.

Applications can be presented in any format, e.g. video packages, online, audio, written, etc.

Unltd Youth Leadership Team: the 12 young people working on the Big Challenge will select a shortlist for a final public vote.

The successful applicants will receive part of the challenge fund: paying for their project costs, support and mentoring over the rest of the Challenge year to ensure their vision has the best chance of translating into a working community project.

To read past winners' blogs and find out how to apply when the competition opens at the end of April, go to http://www.bigchallenge.org.uk/howtoapply.aspx or join social networking sites Unltdworld or the Big Challenge Facebook page.