CHALLENGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN SWINDON LAUNCHED FOR THE SECOND YEAR

HUNDREDS of young students across Swindon are being invited to take part in a competition with cash prizes to celebrate their talent.

Four business owners from Swindon and the Cotswolds have raised thousands of pounds in sponsorship to launch the contest aimed at young people who would have been taking their GCSEs, A Levels or equivalent examinations in 2021. 

At the beginning of the first lockdown in March last year, a team of self-employed professionals Nigel Chute (Chute Design); Allison Murray (Allison Murray Design); Chris Roberts (Chris Roberts MBE PR) and Fiona Scott (Scott Media) founded The Cotswold Challenge to provide support and an educational initiative to 15-19 years old students who were going to miss out on their GCSE and A-Level exams. 

With education in schools and colleges being disrupted for the second year running, The Cotswold Challenge team are launching their competition again from June 1, giving young people from the Cotswolds and across Swindon the chance to win a ‘real world’ prize judged by people who are successful in their profession. 

The team believe that the past year’s Year 11, 12 and 13 students, who have been penned ‘the lost or Covid generation’ need to be able to showcase their talent and be rewarded for what has been, without doubt, a very tough time for them all.

Fiona Scott, runs her business Scott Media from Swindon and has lived in the town since 1997. She said:

“My daughter was one of those young people last year who left school with 48 hours’ notice, with no A level examinations, no long goodbye with friends and it was heart-breaking. To be able to offer young people an opportunity to shine in another forum is amazing.

“We felt it was right do the same thing this year and the first prize winners will get £500 each and a mini professional photo shoot to support them on the next stage of their lives.”

The initiative was so successful in 2020 around 500 young people entered the categories of Art & Design; Creative Writing; Innovation & Entrepreneurial Thinking. The prizes in each category are £500 for first place, £300 for second,£150 for third, £50 for fourth and there will be £25 book tokens for four students in each category who are highly commended. This year there will also be a Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Talent chosen by The Cotswold Challenge team and given to one person in each category.

The Cotswold Challenge 2021 will be launched on Tuesday 1st June The final closing date will be Tuesday 6thJuly and judging will take place in mid July. The judges to date are:

Art & Design:

• Val & Martin Adamson – The Sculpture Studio
• Lady Bathurst of Cirencester Park
• Martin Burgess – art gallery owner & artist
• Trevor Hart – creative writer, artist & commercial photography
• Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen – interior design & tv presenter 
• Lucy McMillan-Scott – portrait artist
• Nic Vickery – artist
• Sally Wyatt – artist.

Creative Writing: 

• Angela Atkinson – author & Swindon blogger
• Paul Cottrell – creative writer & oil artist
• Kim Harvey – owner of The Mad Hatter Bookshop
• Amanda Jennings – author
• C L Taylor – author

Enterprise & Innovation:

• Nicky Godding – editor of Business & Innovation magazine
• Adam Henson – farmer & tv presenter
• Andy Langley – CEO of tech company Ntegra
• Verity Manners – of Wrag Barn Golf Club
• Caroline Summers – owner of The Paperback Shop
• Jeevan Thandi – of Enterprize
• Ruth Waddingham – designer & innovator]

This year’s sponsors to date are:

• Jeevan Thandi of Enterprize
• Ernest Cook Trust
• Jodie Fraser of Fraser Allen Estate Management
• Fi Da Silva Adams of Revolution Performing Arts
• The Royal Agricultural University
• Caroline Summers of The Paperback Shop
• Kevin Wignall, mystery, crime fiction, thriller and suspense novelist

To find out more, please visit: www.thecotswoldchallenge.com or email [email protected] or [email protected]. 

*image of the team behind The Cotswold Challenge – front left Allison Murray, of Allison Murray Design (navy blue blouse), Chris Roberts of Chris Roberts PR (flowery top) & back Fiona Scott of Scott Media (blue flowery top) and Nigel Chute of Chute Design. 

Picture taken by Barbara Leatham of Barbara Leatham Photography.