District 1180 Youth Service

As a District we have a fabulous range of activities for children and young people to enjoy.  They are the foundations of our communities, and the Rotarians of our future, so a priority for our clubs.

Activities available are:

• Nominating a young person for Rotary Young Citizen Award, Rotary Young Citizen Peacemaker Award, Rotary Young Citizen Sporting Hero Award or Rotary Young Citizen Environmentalist Award;
• Sponsoring a young person aged 16-18 to attend the District's annual Rotary Youth Leadership Award course in August each year;
• Sponsoring a young person aged 14-18 to complete the Developing Future Leaders Course;
• Sponsoring a young person age 16-18 to attend a Rotary Youth Exchange camp;
• Set up Rotakids groups for children aged 7-12 with your local primary schools, or Interact groups for young people aged 12-18 with your local secondary schools; or
• Run a Technology Tournament day to challenge groups of young people to demonstrate their STEM skills; or
• Arrange or participate in a Rotary Children's Fun Day; or
• Sponsor a child to attend the District's Creative Writing Course; or
• Donate towards Rotary Christmas Shoe Boxes for children in refuge.

There is a District Lead for all these activities who can advise and support you.  Each has its own page shown to the side or bottom of this page, for you to click into for further information and to contact the District lead for that activity.

There are also a range of competitions you could run with local schools and clubs.  You would work with them to have pupils from the schools compete to reach the District final, possibly progressing to the Cluster Final and National Final.  Again each has its own District lead, and page giving further information at the side or bottom of this page.  Each competition page has links to the guidelines and promotional documentation, giving everything a Rotary club needs to know about offering these competitions to young people in their community. Each competition aims to encourage and celebrate the talents of our young people.

The competitions are:

• Young Artist
• Young Chef
• Young Musician
• Young Photographer
• Young Writer / Young Welsh Writer
• Youth Speaks
• Youth Speaks: A Debate

24/25 Rotary Youth Competitions

• THEME 24/25 for non face to face competitions = Wonderful Water

• DATES

• Deadline for submissions of district winners for the non face to face competitions to Rotary GB&I for national final = Weds 30th April 2025
• National finals for Rotary Young Chef and Rotary Young Musician will be the weekend of 29th/30th March 2025. We do not yet know which of these two dates they will be or the venue

• AGES

• Date for determination of age eligibility will be 31st August 2024
• Only change of age for 24/25 will be for Rotary Young Chef which will be 11 to 17

The aim is to help young people discover and develop their own personal skills, grow their self-esteem and enjoy themselves in the process. Whether it is RotaKids, Interact or taking on the challenge of Rotary GB&I Young Writer there is something for everyone to participate in.

Ensure you are using the 2024/25 information and materials in the public and members’ area, including guidelines and entry forms. All entrants must go through a Rotary club.
 
The forms for Rotary Young Artist and Photographer include a space for entrants to describe their submission in relation to the theme of ‘Wonderful Water’.

Remember to welcome all enquiries you receive and respond promptly. If you are not running a competition yourself, put them in touch with your District Youth Lead.

Clubs and Districts all play a vital role in reaching out to youngsters, so make use of your District Youth Leads, get involved with your schools and youth groups and share your stories of success with the resource group.

You can always contact me, Hannah Graham, as District Youth Lead if you have any questions, at youthservices1180@icloud.com.

You can find further information on all Youth Activities on the Rotary Great Britain and Ireland website https://www.rotarygbi.org/get-involved/young-people/. For each specific activity page linked on this page there is a link to the relevant Rotary GB&I page for more information on that activity.