Youth Speak Competition 2012
Open to students across Northern Ireland, Environmental Youth Speak is an annual public speaking competition designed to increase awareness of environmental issues amongst young people.
Co-ordinated by all three waste management groups, alongside the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, it encourages students to research and debate arguments on a wide-range of environmental issues. The event is sponsored by the DoE, Rethink Waste fund, Cookstown Textile Recyclers and ERP (European Recycling Platform).
The themes for the 2012 competition were based on two key statements:-
• Junior ‘Shrink your bin – one less bag to landfill’
• Senior ‘WEEE waste – big problem. What can we do?’ (Waste electronic and electrical equipment)
All councils in Northern Ireland take part in the competition and hold a local heat. Approximately 1200 schools from all over Northern Ireland are invited to participate. The number of entrants in each Council area varies but approximately 390 schools at local level and 52 schools at regional level are represented by a junior and/or senior entrant.
Now in its 14th year Environmental Youth Speak 2012 was hosted by local broadcaster Pete Snodden from Cool FM who presented the winners and all finalists with their prizes at a special event held in Mossley Mill, Newtownabbey.
