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In conjunction with:
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Competitions
Young Geographer of the Year competition
Young Geographer of the Year (YGOTY) competition is run in conjunction with Geographical magazine. It began in 2000 and has become a regular feature in many schools' calendars.
2012: What are the connections between your local area and the 206 Olympic and Paralympic participating nations and how do they influence the geography of your local area?
Look at Walk the World to investigate connections across the UK.
- You should explore and explain about five interesting or unusual connections, rather than listing every connection you can find
- Pupils in the three youngest categories (nine to 11, 11 to 14 and 14 to 16) should answer this question using an annotated diagram or map (no larger than A3 in size)
- Students in the 16 to 18 category should answer this question through a 1,500 word essay which can include illustrations
- Further information on entry criteria (PDF)
- All entries should be submitted with a completed application form PDF | MSWORD
- Unfortunately we are unable to confirm receipt of applications, or to provide feedback on individual entries
Entries should be submitted individually or through your School. If your School has more than 20 completed applications, your teachers may wish to run a local semi-final, and then select the top 10 entries to send on to us to be entered into the national competition. Download an entry commendation certificate (PDF) to give to your students.
The closing date for YGOTY and the Rex Walford award is 4pm on 5 October 2012. Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony at the Society on 23 November 2012.
Rex Walford award for PGCE students, Teach First, GTP or NQT geography teachers
The Rex Walford award will focus on the same question as YGOTY 2012. Entries should include a scheme of work and materials for at least three lessons, including fieldwork, focusing on your local area. The winner will receive a Society Fellowship for one year plus a cash prize of £150 and their materials will be hosted on the Society’s website.
Supported by:
2011: What should every good geographer understand?
Young geographers proved they know what every good geographer should understand, as the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Geographical magazine’s Young Geographer of the Year winners were announced.
The awards were presented by Society President, Michael Palin, in a special ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London last Friday (18 November 2011).
This year’s competition asked the question ‘What should every good geographer understand?’, allowing students to look at the way in which geography surrounds us all – from events taking place in the news or changes in their local area, to the world map on a classroom wall – and how it helps to better understand the connections between the world’s people, places and environments and the interactions taking place between them.
Themes from the winning entries included the interrelationships that exist between different parts of geography; the need to understand key geographical concepts and how to apply them and demonstrations of how knowledge, skills, models and case studies all need to be used to make sense of the world.
Commenting on the winners, Steve Brace, Head of Education at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), said: “I am delighted with the quality of entries this year, and was particularly impressed to see our young geographers providing such insightful and knowledgeable answers to the question “what should all good geographers understand?”.
Each category had one overall winner and three highly commended entries. The winners were:
Nine to 11 years category
Winner: Olivia Banks (JPG) Akeley Wood School
Highly Commended entries:
Twelve to 14 years category
Winner: WeiNan Zhou (JPG) King Edward VI Grammar School
Highly Commended entries:
Fourteen to 16 years category
Winner: Alex Power (JPG) St Paul's Girls' School
Highly Commended entries:
Sixteen to 18 years category
Winner: Maisie Heath (PDF) King Edward VI Five Ways School
Highly Commended entries:
- YGOTY 2011 flyer (JPG)
- Full media release (PDF)
The Rex Walford Award for PGCE students and NQTs 2011
The Society was delighted to announce a new element of the Young Geographer of the Year competition - The Rex Walford Award for PGCE students and newly qualified geography teachers. Reflecting Rex Walford’s passion for training new geography teachers, this award was given to an NQT who created the best set of lesson plans linked to this year's Young Geographer competition.
The first winner of this new annual award was Imogen Riley, NQT at Portland Place School, London.
Prizes included personalised maps, wall maps and atlases, book vouchers and a year’s subscription to the Society’s magazine, Geographical.
It is the expectation that lesson plans that are created would underpin outstanding lessons along the theme of What should every good geographer understand? Plans for a maximum of two lessons need to be provided, with an indication of where they fit in the scheme of work, along with the key resources used, plans for assessment and differentiation etc. The lessons do not have to result in actual entries for the competition, but an outcome we would expect is that students are capable of entering the competition should they wish to do so.
If an outcome of the lessons were actual entries, then we would expect to see within the planning appropriate skills for the category they were entering i.e., entries for under 16 years should be portrayed in a visual or diagrammatical way, whilst entries for 16 to 18 year olds is a written essay. |