Competitions

Young Geographer of the Year competition 2013

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.

The question for Young Geographer of the Year 2013, run jointly with Geographical, is:

How does either the human or physical geography of your local area compare to the rest of the UK? 

Pupils should use different sources of geographical information and data to research their local area and compare it to the national picture in the UK. This might include using census or climate data, and examining urban change or flood risk. However, the choice is open to you to explore relevant data to your local area.

The competition has categories for Key Stage Two, Key Stage Three, GCSE and A Level students. The Society encourages schools to run their own in-school competition before sending their top entries into the national competition.

We particularly welcome entries which:

• Can demonstrate a good use of different and relevant data
• Focus on and explain a small number of geographical features and information about them. We do not need to know everything about your local area and would prefer you to select some key data
• May also involve first-hand observation in the local area
• Entry criteria for the competition (PDF)
• Entry form PDF | MSWORD

Entries for the Young Geographer of the Year competition must be received by 5.00pm on the 11 October 2013. The Society regrets that it is unable to acknowledge receipt of entries, return entries or provide feedback on entries.

Rex Walford Award 2013 – for student teachers or teaching colleagues new to the classroom

Young Geographer of the Year 2012

Young geographers proved they know their local geography and world connections, as the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and Geographical magazine’s Young Geographer of the Year 2012 winners were announced. The awards were presented to students in a special ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London on Friday, 23 November 2012.

Last year’s competition draws its inspiration from the Society’s ‘Walk the World’ project, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.  Walk the World invites people to explore their local connections to the 206 Olympic and Paralympic participating nations. Students were asked to explain the connections between their own local area and the 206 Olympic and Paralympic participating nations, and to show how they influence upon its geography.

The question allowed students to look at the way in which geography surrounds us all and to better understand the connections between the world’s people, places and environments and the interactions taking place between them.

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 information links between their local area and Olympic and Paralympic participating nations, and how they influence the geography.”

Nine to 11 years category

Twelve to 14 years category

Fourteen to 16 years category

Sixteen to 18 years category

Rex Walford award for PGCE students, Teach First, GTP or NQT geography teachers 2012

The Society was also delighted to announce the winner of The Rex Walford Award 2012 for PGCE students and newly qualified geography teachers (NQT), reflecting the late Rex Walford’s passion for training new geography teachers. This was awarded for the best set of teaching resources, scheme of work or lesson plans linked to this year's Young Geographer competition. The winner of the annual award in 2012 was Leanne Milner from Beauchamp College in Oadby, Leicestershire. Leanne can be seen in the slideshow above.

• Lesson plan one (PDF)
• Lesson plan two (PDF)
• Lesson plan three (PDF)
• Links to specifications (PDF)