Next Generation Awards 2023 Final Winners

For Birmingham schools who took part in the Next Generation Awards (NGA) 2023 this was an evening full of passion and innovation aimed at changing the face of their community for the better. It was the hottest ticket in town!

An evening where young local talent showcased their projects to improve society, stimulate creativity, connect with each other and their wider community. Their appetite for positive change and desire was on display along with their business and marketing skills, all in hope of winning the top prize of £1500 towards making their project a reality.

The award scheme is an assessed, project-based program for 11-14-year-olds from Birmingham Schools. The inclusive project which is great for developing pupils’ skills in team-working, ICT, presentation, creative writing and problem solving, encourages pupils to become active citizens that contribute positively to future of the city.

The 2023 Finals Award ceremony took place at Highbury Hall, Moseley on 12th October. Over 100 people attended the event including school students, staff members, parents, friends, business leaders, Birmingham Civic Society members, The Lord Mayor’s Deputy, and Honorary Alderman Mike Leddy.

Judges Panel:

• Indi Deol Founding Director of DESIblitz (online British Asian magazine)
• Peter Jones – Birmingham Civic Society Trustee
• Andrew Edgar – Senior Lecturer, Education Studies. Birmingham Newman
• University
• Justine Marklew – Engagement and Outdoors Manager at Moor Pool Heritage
  Trust

Five School teams of 11-14 year olds, had already been through a tough judging process over the last 12-months to earn the opportunity to present their Gold Award winning projects to the panel.

• Harborne Academy
• King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls
• Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School
  Colmers School and Sixth Form College
• King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys

There is always so much at stake for each team and the atmosphere in the hall was electrifying, full of nervous energy and anticipation. Every team had six minutes to
present their project to the judges.

Every year the judges are so excited to watch the presentations, celebrate the great talent from Generation Z, always bringing their A-game, it’s a huge responsibility to judge such amazing raw talent.

The projects included this year:

Bishop Vesey Grammar School taking on the alarming issue of ‘County Lines’, where young vulnerable people are exploited by drug dealers in major cities to carry, hide and sell drugs. The school worked in partnership with West Midlands Police and chose to use business cards to relay their message outlining the dangers of County Lines to children and teenagers in the hope that their message would make young people think and stop before joining gangs, being exploited and putting themselves in real danger.

Harborne Academy had been so alarmed by the rate of Street Robbery in their local area so were determined to tackle this subject with their project, ‘Five ways to Pass’ By designing a five-point plan advising how to be safe when walking in the street with particular emphasis on young people walking to and from school. A hotspot for street robbery is the Five ways underpass. Harborne Academy wanted a memorable piece of artwork commissioned and drawn on the wall of the underpass by a local graffiti artist conveying a message about street crime and keeping safe.

The visual image would have a great impact and serve as a constant reminder through a large eye-catching piece of graffiti.

Colmers School and Sixth Form College presented sustainability and recycling with their big aim to reduce plastic and paper waste within their school and save up to £20,000 year. They aimed to think big, but start small and be realistic, allowing the project to grow year on year as the school and its pupils became more supportive and passionate about sustainability. They had researched how the school could save thousands of pounds a year by recycling paper and plastic, providing all students with refillable drink holders along with recycling bins across the school premises.

King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls, took on another controversial and emotive issue – Knife Crime. Watching the news and seeing so many young people becoming victims of knife crime the team wanted to get a message out to the younger generation to discourage them from carrying knives. They challenged the thinking of knives being cool, or feeling under pressure to conceal a knife for their own safety while on the streets. A tricky and scary subject matter to discuss with their peers, but through social events, social media messaging and young people mentoring younger people. They were determined this was the subject they wanted to seriously explore and change attitudes, using every medium at their disposal, including a Rap song.

King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys embraced the natural world and working towards improving it. Taking their inspiration from lockdown and the vital one hour we all had to enjoy nature, the team chose to help the shrinking bird population within urban conurbations, with their, ‘Bring Back the Birds’ campaign for their local area. Educating the local community about the importance of nature and supporting local wildlife would help raise awareness and consciousness of the issue. Providing individual pupils and local family’s with bird boxes to put in their gardens and not forgetting bird feed. But it wasn’t just preserving wildlife, but also enjoying wildlife too. The team understood how the outdoors, connecting with nature and watching birds in your garden had a positive impact on mental health. Promoting the idea of connecting with nature could and would diffuse anxiety and have a positive effect on our emotional wellbeing.

Newman University generously donated the Prize’ of £1500 and mentoring to bring the winning project to life, the winners would also take home the coveted Next Generation Award Shield sponsored by The Birmingham Civic Society (BCS).

As the final team left the stage the judges left the room to discuss and deliberate. There was tension building in the air. While waiting the audience was introduced to dedicated Trustees of BCS explaining how the charity supports Birmingham and showcased some of the great work it does in Heritage, Planning, Public Art, Green initiatives and Citizenship.

The NGA programme has been running for 19 years and has assisted over 35,000 young people to become active citizens interested in helping their city, community and school.

The NGA Programme is run by The Birmingham Civic Society with support from Birmingham Newman University alongside many local trusts and foundations. After, what seemed like a very long 30-minites the judges returned with the name of the winning team in hand.

Peter Jones NGA Finals 2023, Chair of Judges  explained to a captive audience:

“The panel and I were treated to an evening of high quality presentations covering a range of important community challenges. All the teams successfully demonstrated to everyone present, an acute awareness and knowledge of their chosen issue supported by meaningful and well considered solutions to tackle that issue (Street Robbery, County Lines, Urban Bird Boxes, Knife Crime, Recycling). This year’s standards of teamwork, presentation skills, use of media and research was particularly high and not at all easy to separate for us as judges.

“Consequentially, this caused much debate amongst the judging panel resulting in an extra-long deliberation. We whole heartedly want to thank every team, their school, parents and supporters for participating and contributing to a great event. Please be very proud of the work done to this point and continue that work if possible.”

“We the judges decided that the winning team and presentation showed a higher degree of originality, creativity and impact, their authentic message was simple but piercing, making it memorable and easily transferable.”

“The judges also agreed that Birmingham Newman University’s generous donation of prize money and project support would take this project and presentation to another level. We wish King Edwards VI Northfield School for Girls every success with their ‘Drop the Knife’ project and look forward to seeing the finished article in full swing.”

The cheers from the winning team and their supporters was memorable!

With tears, cheers, and giggles the team sprinted to the podium to be presented with their £1500.00 cheque, their shield, their medals and huge congratulations from the Lord Mayor’s Deputy, Honorary Alderman, Mike Leddy while the rapturous applause and cheers from the audience continued.

Ms. Mohand, lead teacher on the winning project said:

“I’m incredibly proud of the students, they’ve worked so hard and invested so much time on this project.  Their determination and passion to get the message out there is inspiring. It’s so important that young people get involved and want to do something positive about these important issues that affect their peers. When the students decided that their subject was knife crime, I was worried about a very sensitive topic, but the way the girls worked with the subject creatively and reaching out to a younger audience has been amazing. We all look forward to seeing their project grow into a reality over the next few months.”

Stephanie Bloxham, Incoming BCS Chair and Chair of the Citizenship committee, commented:

“The finals are such a special occasion to showcase our young active citizens within Birmingham’s secondary schools.”

“We know how much effort the teams put into the programme throughout the competition and reaching the finals is something that all pupils and teachers should be proud of. Well done to all of the finalist teams for their fantastic presentations and huge congratulations to the winners! We very much look forward to seeing this important initiative being developed through the prize and mentoring.”

So, now the hard work starts and we will be following and documenting the team’s journey from here until it’s completion. It’s an exciting time to watch an impassioned group of young people want to make such positive and dramatic difference to their world – a world which they hope to make safer and more secure for the next generation… and the one after that… and the one after that…

On the evening of the NGA’s BCS also awarded “School Stars”. An initiative which recognises and celebrates truly fantastic work done by Birmingham’s primary and secondary schools across the city to help those in real need in their communities. Pupils from the following schools were recognised and asked to come up to receive their “School Stars” award.

• Bellfield Junior School
• The Jewellery Quarter Academy
• City of Birmingham School
• St Georges School, Edgbaston
• King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys
• Eden Girls Leadership Academy Birmingham

A huge thank you to Jo Dunlop, Next Generation Awards Project Manager, who is the driving force behind the success of the Awards Scheme. Working diligently all year round to showcase the best young talent in schools across Birmingham, changing people and communities for the better year after year.  BCS is grateful for Jo’s fantastic work and commitment. Working with more than 35,000 young people with the objective to promoting the concept of active citizenship among young people from all backgrounds in the city. This year the Next Generation Awards Scheme has been made possible with kind support from Birmingham Newman University & Professional Polishing Services Ltd Supported by the generosity of the following local Birmingham charitable trusts & foundations:

• The Dulverton Trust
• The Baron Davenport’s Charity
• The Grimmit Trust
• The George Henry Collins Charity
• The Edward & Dorothy Cadbury Charitable Trust
• The Roughley Trust
• The Limoges Charitable Trust
• The Roger & Douglas Turner Trust
• The GJW Turner Trust
• The Harry Payne Trust – Heart of England Community Foundation
• The W E Dunn Trust

Watch the video of the event:

If you would like to become a member of the Birmingham Civic Society, support our work, or even consider becoming a trustee see our Join Us page or email us at info@birminghamcivicsociety.org.uk.