All students in years 10 and 11 in England and Wales (Key Stage 4) and all Secondary 3 and 4 students in Scotland are eligible.
Every day the news is full of stories about knife crime and other acts of violence on the streets of Britain and its impact on young people. But, in other parts of the world, the young live under a shadow of even greater threats. Images of recent conflict around the world remind us that children are still being recruited to fight and die alongside adults in wars they are often too young to even comprehend.
Our curriculum-based lesson plans and background information on Child Soldiers allow the competition to be used in a variety of ways both in and out of the classroom. In addition, the London Network will also be offering a limited number of workshops to eligible school classes to support their work for the competition.
A distinguished panel of judges will consider the submissions and select winners in three categories:
The best entries will be published in an anthology in the spring of 2010.
Teachers: Go to our dedicated teachers' section for ideas on how to use the Right Words competition in your school.
Students: You may want to find out more from our page on Child Soldiers, then visit our Writing page for some tips on how to get started.
Right Words 2008 focused on the subject of Darfur. We received many accomplished and inspiring entries from students around the country, the best of which were collected and published in a small book.
If you have any queries about the 2009 competition, or would like details of the 2008 winners or how to obtain the anthology of 2008 entries, please e-mail competition@hrw.org.
