Young people across the country are being urged to create their own anti racism messages as part of the 2016 National School Competition organised by leading equalities organisation, Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC).
The competition was due launched last week at an event hosted by UNISON at its London headquarters.
The annual SRtRC school competition encourages young people from schools throughout England to create their own anti-racism messages to combat racism in the classroom.
SRtRC uses the high-profile status of football and its players to help engage young people in the competition and with the broader goal of combating racism.
The launch event was attended by UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis, and NUT general secretary Christine Blower, both key sponsors of the competition. Also in attendance were TUC president Liz Snape and Sadiq Khan Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, together with Clint Hill, the captain of Queens Park Rangers FC.
Speaking about UNISON’s long standing support for the competition, Dave Prentis said: “When you see the power of the work that young people produce and the level of commitment from the footballers and ex-footballers who get involved, it’s not hard to see why the annual school competition is so popular.
“The competition brings a challenging issue to life for our young people to the benefit of all our communities. I am proud that UNISON supports this great annual event in the schools calendar.”
The launch event also included a special screening of SRtRC’s new educational film Immigration; What’s the Story?, aimed at challenging some of the myths surrounding immigration.
Open to young people of all ages, the free-to-enter competition encourages participants to produce anti-racism themed artwork in any medium; creative writing – including poetry, short stories and newspaper style articles; film and music pieces.
All competition winners will be invited to a special awards ceremony at a Premier League stadium, with travel costs covered by the campaign and prizes presented by special guests, including current and former professional footballers.