Pupils clean up at anti-litter awards

4th February 2010

Highland Council today announced the winners of a "Don't Litter Competition" that is believed to be the first competition of its kind in Scotland. Secondary and primary pupils from schools in Nairn, Inverness, Portree and Helmsdale attended a ceremony held in Inverness earlier today to receive their awards after successfully coming up with creative ways to get the "Don't litter" message across.

The "Don't Litter" poster and DVD design competition, organised by The Highland Council in association with Keep Scotland Beautiful, Northern Constabulary and Albyn Housing Society, attracted 200 entries from schools and youth groups from across the Highlands.

A judging panel met last week and had the tough job of selecting winners for the various categories.

The top primary school poster design prize went to Rachel McMillan from Rosebank Primary in Nairn. She received an Olympus digital camera for her school and she also gets a Wildwoodz laser games adventure. Runners up were Connie Cowie and Jodie Denoon from Helmsdale Primary and Ronan Hutchison also from Rosebank who each received laser games vouchers for Wildwoodz.

The secondary school poster design winner was Ryan Peters from Millburn Academy who was presented with an Olympus digital camera for his school. Runners up were Sarah Mackenna also from Millburn who was joint second with Meig Sutherland from Charleston Academy, each of them also winning laser game adventures for themselves.

All the prize winning posters were on display in the Town House during the ceremony.

As well as designing posters the young entrants had the opportunity to make a short DVD film to promote the "Don't Litter" message. This is thought to be the first such competition in Scotland to encourage the use of film as a media to highlight the menace littering has on communities. The judging panel were very impressed with all the entries and the top primary school prize of a video camera and equipment went to Portree Primary School P6/7 Gaelic Medium class with the top secondary prize of a video camera and kit being awarded to S4 pupils at Charleston Academy.

Speaking during the award ceremony Chairman of The Highland Council's Transport, Environment and Community Services Committee, Councillor John Laing said: "It is great to see young people invest their time and talents into coming up with creative and effective ways to get the fact across that littering is unsightly, unnecessary and unwanted. I'd like to congratulate everyone who entered the competition and I know the judges found their role particularly difficult. The winners all deserve specially praise as does everyone involved in the organisation of the competition. I really have enjoyed watching the films and the artwork on the posters has been exceptional. All the entries were very different from each other but all portrayed the message loud and clear that litter has no place in the Highlands."

Calum Macaulay, Chief Executive at Albyn, said: "This type of competition is the first of its kind in Scotland and we are proud to be part of it. It is important for young people to understand the negative impact littering has on the environment and the competition allows for this in a fun, creative way."

After all the award winning short films were premiered during the ceremony the pupils from Portree Primary school entertained guests and members of the public with a live version of their award winning song and dance routine in Falcon Square.