The annual National Competition by Young Reporters for the Environment Ghana (YRE-Ghana) aims to promote environmental reporting amongst young people in Ghana. YRE-Ghana aims to actively promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and present case stories of initiatives that emphasize a holistic approach to achieving the SDGs.
Therefore, the National Competition seeks to throw light on the various environmental issues through the utilization of different forms of media such as written articles, photography, and videography. Winners of the national competition will have the chance for their work to be entered into the YRE International Competition.
The competition is open to those aged 11-25 participating as individuals or groups of students through their school, college, university, or youth group. Students may submit more than one type of submission to different media categories.
YRE works to actively promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and present case stories of initiatives that are developed by local communities and emphasize a holistic approach to achieving sustainable development for all.
Therefore, we encourage participants to reflect on the link between their entry and one or more SDGs when choosing a topic to report on. Remember that an environmental lens is always required, which is also the case when a social or economic SDG is chosen as a topic of investigation.
Following the alarming need for urgent action, YRE International recommends that students investigate local environmental issues linked to the following three themes:
However, the highlight of this year’s competition is Environmental Pollution. During this year we will be sharing additional educational resources, opportunities to participate in mini-campaigns, webinars, and courses on FEE Academy related to the theme of pollution.
The YRE Competition consists of six different categories:
International Competition
The winners of the National Competitions are sent on to the International competition where they are assessed by an International Jury and have the chance of being recognized on a global scale.
The International Competition is open to entries from all countries that are part of the YRE network, and all environmental themes as described above.
International Collaboration – The International Collaboration category is open to all countries with three recommended themes: environmental pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change, and must be linked to chosen SDG(s).
The submission must fulfill the criteria for its category “Article”,” Photo Reportage of 3-5 photos”, or” Video” and show significant collaborative work between two or more countries. It is open to the age categories 11-14,15-18, and 19-25 years.
In addition, we recommend the following tips for a successful international Collaboration entry:
Tips for International Collaboration
The competition is open to those aged 11-25 participating as individuals or groups of students through their school, college, university, or youth group. The YRE program is run by FEE & national member organization CeST.
All the entries to the YRE International Competition must first be submitted through the National Competition in each YRE member country. Students may submit more than one type of submission to different media categories. Age categories There are three age categories in the YRE International Competition: 11-14, 15-18 and 19-25. It is the participant's age on the day they submit their entry to the National Competition(or on the day of submission deadline for International Schools) that must be given and defines which age category they enter. Those submitting a group project must submit in the age category of the oldest member of their team. Photo entries are submitted within the one age category 11-25, but in three subcategories: single reportage photo, single environmental campaign photo, and a photo story of 3-5 photos.
All submissions must:
1. Include the following information:
2. Fulfil the Format & Structure and the Dissemination criteria for its category.
3. Be in written and/or spoken English or must have English subtitles.
4. Focus on real and current local issues with links to the global context.
5. Present possible and constructive solutions supported by credible sources e.g., local stakeholders, experts, academic research, etc.
6. Include a credit role, footnotes or a bibliography with the sources of images, video footage, music and information not created by students.
7. Identify and provide a brief explanation of how the submission is related to one or more Sustainable Development Goals.
Submissions can focus on any of the Sustainable Development Goals, but an environmental lens is always required.
This is because YRE’s mission is to encourage youth to use their voices to draw attention to environmental issues they see in their communities. As a young person, you can make a positive impact by sharing work with others. Whether it be an article you wrote, a photograph you took, or a video you filmed, you are drawing people’s attention to issues, challenges, and solutions to environmental issues they may not have known about or considered before.
The following four levels are where we think young people’s voices need to be heard and will be used to assess all types of entries:
Legal matters are especially important in today’s media. It is your responsibility to be aware of the rules and regulations relating to media content (text, photos, and music) when you work on your submission. Any submissions that FEE finds to be of dubious legal standing will be ineligible to win the International Competition. If you have any doubts on this matter, please contact the National Operator in your country or the YRE International head office. Plagiarism, or using someone else’s ideas, words, images, videos, and/or music and representing it as your own original work, is a serious offense. Therefore, it is very important that you properly cite any ideas, text, or other media that are not your own. You can cite your sources using footnotes, credit rolls for videos, or a bibliography. There are several online sources where you can check your written work, such as articles, for plagiarism. As previously stated in the criteria, all photos, articles, and videos should be your own original work, and in the case of videos, a minimum of 70 percent of the video should be your own video footage, images, etc. When reporting on issues and events, it is likely you will conduct additional research on your topic – and we encourage this! Just make sure that you can show where you found your information by citing it.
The YRE program values academic honesty and the use of credible sources. Any facts, statistics, images, etc. that a student uses in their entry (article, photo, or video) should be listed in a ‘Reference’ list at the end of the entry and in-text footnotes are encouraged. Examples of this can be found here and here.
Remember: Even when citing sources, remember that this is not an academic essay, but a newspaper article. One of its characteristic features is the statements of competent persons, and therefore we recommend that you go to the persons in person or contact them by e-mail or telephone and get information directly from them. It will increase not only the dynamics of the article but also its credibility.
The winners of the International Young Reporters for the Environment Competition will be awarded with diplomas and the winning entries will be published internationally on online platforms such as Medium, We Don’t Have Time, and Youth Climate report (for videos only). The 1st place winners will also be published on the YRE International website.
When signing up to this competition, you agree that we can process your personal data provided in the submission form and given to us during the competition. We process the data so that we can register your participation, judge the submission, save what you have submitted, and publish your submission on the international level throughout the FEE network and its partners if you are chosen as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place winner.
Necessary permission for photographing children's faces is the responsibility of the author and must, therefore, be sought. All 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be saved in our archives and used by the FEE network to promote the winners and the program.
You always have the option to withdraw your consent and your submission to the competition.
The Data Controller is:
Foundation for Environmental Education
Scandiagade 13, 2450 Copenhagen SV, DENMARK
+45 70 22 24 27info@fee.global
Disclaimer: All information on this page is originally from resources provided by YRE Global under Foundation for Environmental Education and their resources provided for the YRE International Competition. https://www.yre.global/yre-competition