Youth Services

Rotary GB&I offers a wide variety of Youth Services for New Generations comprising Youth Programmes, Youth Competitions and Youth Exchange.

Rotary Youth Programmes

Every year, thousands of talented and dedicated young people, ages 12-30, have an incredible experience in a Rotary New Generations programme. 

The restrictions resulting from the Covid 19 pandemic has unfortunately curtailed some of our programmes in 2020 but it is planned for them to resume quickly as soon as it is safe to do so.

Interact

As members of Interact and Rotaract Clubs (known as Interactors and Rotaractors) young people can serve in communities at home and abroad.

Interact Clubs (for 12 - 18 year olds) may be formed in schools or community organisations and provide valuable experience of working together on activities and projects to benefit communities locally, nationally or internationally. Interact service can also count as the service element of a young person’s Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Rotaract

Rotaract Clubs are for 18- 30 year olds and can be formed in colleges, universities or community organisations and can also work on projects of value to their communities.

RotaKids

Rotary also has RotaKids Clubs where young people aged between 7 and 12 years can learn to run their own club and projects for their school and community and also have a lot of fun while they do it.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)

For young people wishing to acquire leadership skills, places on short training courses known as Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) are offered each year and, under the skilled supervision of the RYLA instructors, the young people learn to take on and successfully manage challenges that, before joining the course, of which they would not have thought themselves capable. They emerge as leaders!

Rotary Support to Schools

Many Rotarians offer support to local schools through Mock interviews, Reading Assistance, as School Governors or regularly helping schools with various functions and events. Some Rotary competitions are run in conjunction with schools.

Rotary Youth Competitions

Rotary also runs a range of Youth Competitions and, while the restrictions to combat the Covid 19 pandemic has temporarily curtailed or restricted our face-to-face competitions such as Youth Speaks, Young Chef, Young Musician and Technology Tournament so it is uncertain when these competitions can restart. For up-to-date news on when these competitions will re-start, please take a look at this website for updates or enquire by E-Mail to d1260youth@rotary1260.org.uk . We will restart them as soon as possible.

Our other competitions, listed below, are definitely going ahead in 2020-21 and are ones in which youngsters can participate safely. These competitions may be entered either through a school, a youth organisation, for home-educated youngsters or by registering privately. Competitions all start as a club round, progressing to a district competition and finally to a prestigious national final organised by Rotary GB&I. Competition age ranges are junior (7 -10), intermediate (11-13) and senior (14-17).

Young Photographer

Rotary GB&I celebrates photography as a talent and an art form by offering thousands of young people the chance to demonstrate their photographic skills through the Rotary GB&I Young Photographer competition. The theme this year is “Wild Nature”. This competition encourages young people to experiment with photography, use digital and/or traditional methods of photography, demonstrate their interpretation of the theme and express their ideas through the medium of photography. Each contestant produces a portfolio of three photographs which may be in colour or black and white.

Young Artist

In this popular competition the young artists demonstrate their talent by producing a two-dimensional unframed piece of artwork up to a maximum A2 size which may be in the medium of pen & ink, paint, collage or print making and the theme this year is “Wild Nature”

Young Writer

For young people who like creative writing, our Young Writer competition is a must! The theme this year is “My Happiest Day” and on this theme our young writer can produce a written or typed story (up to 500 words) in prose which can be fiction or non-fiction, prose, or a poem (up to 40 lines), as long as the piece relates to the theme.

Young Film Maker

This Rotary GB&I competition was new in 2019 and aims to aims to encourage young people to:

experiment with filmmaking, use digital and/or traditional methods of filmmaking, express their ideas through filmmaking and demonstrate their interpretation of the theme which this year is “Challenge”.

The film should be of up to five minutes duration and may be made using either mobile or cameras and each entrant must provide a brief sentence describing the relationship of their film to the theme.

Young Environmentalist

Another new competition, introduced in 2019, but which is very topical for young people today!

The competition aims to encourage young people to interact with the environment, address serious environmental issues, develop and explore solutions to the issues and explore, investigate, research and undertake an environmental sustainability project. This competition is open to individuals and, in the junior and intermediate age groups to small teams of up to four young people. The theme this year is “Climate Change and Carbon Reduction.” See the information pack for a suggested list of topics.

Young Citizen

Rotary GB&I recognises that there are many young positive role-models who are going out of their way to make a positive difference to our world. The Rotary Young Citizen Award does not limit who can enter by category and services through which in individual may qualify can be from a wide range. Individual young people and groups of young people, aged under 25 years, can be nominated by individual Rotary clubs. The Rotary Young Citizen Awards showcase the good that exceptional young people are doing and the stories of their success. Included in the Young Citizen Award scheme are Rotary Young Citizen Sporting Hero Awards and Rotary Young Citizen Peacemaker Awards.

For further information about any of our youth programs and competitions, please check out the relevant page on this website.

Rotary Youth Exchange

Through Rotary Youth Exchange, young people can explore new cultures, gain international understanding and learn skills that will help them succeed as future community leaders.

At present, all Youth Exchanges are suspended because of the Covid 19 pandemic but, as soon as it is safe to do so, the programme will resume and offer the following opportunities.

Youth Camps

Across the world many Rotary Youth Camps are held and the applicable age range for each one is individually specified. Typically one camp may be for 15 – 18 year old, others for 18 -25. Some camps may be individually themed so applicants should study the prospectus carefully. District 1260 has cancelled the planned camp for July 2021 but expects to run the camp in July 2022. An important feature of all the camps is the international dimension so all applicants attend a camp abroad.

Short Term Exchange Programme (STEP)

STEP allows 15-17 year old the opportunity to travel abroad and stay with the family of their STEP exchange partner in the family home and for reciprocal hospitality to be provided on the exchange visit. STEP is organised through the District Youth Exchange Officer (DYEO) and a worldwide network of Rotary Youth Exchange Associations in each country. Visits typically last up to three weeks in each direction.

Long Term Exchange Programme (LTEP)

At present Rotary GB& I are unable to organise LTEP as the programme cannot comply with UK Border Control Visa requirements. Where LTEP can take place it involves a year, including schooling, at the location abroad for 16 -17 year olds (typically the year 12 or lower VIth school year).

New Generations Service Exchange (NGSE)

For young people between the ages of 18 and 30 with a skill to offer, NGSE offers a unique opportunity to use their skills and knowledge to improve the lives of people abroad through “hands on” vocational or humanitarian service while simultaneously gaining an opportunity for personal or professional development. The activity should support one of Rotary’s Areas of Focus. Individual NGSE can often be arranged at a convenient time to fit in with academic or career timetables and preferred length of stay (usually limited to a maximum of three months) there are some opportunities for Group NGSE.