National Good Citizen Award 2007 launched

Select Education's annual national Good Citizen award 2007, to be judged in December, recognises you

Commending Commitment to Citizenship: Select Education's National Good Citizen Award 2007 launched

Select Education's annual national Good Citizen award 2007, to be judged in December, recognises young people's commitment to citizenship from helping to combat racism and drug abuse to mentoring and inspiring younger pupils within their schools.

In a call to all young environmental evangelists, anti-bullying campaigners and charity champions, education recruitment specialists Select Education, has launched its national Good Citizen award for secondary schools to recognise the UK's most commendable and innovative campaigners and to support the government's commitment to the citizenship curriculum.

Peter Flannery, managing director, Select Education comments: 'It's time to discover and reward the next generation of the likes of Johnson Beharry VC the most recent living recipient of the Victoria Cross. Learning how to be a good citizen is essential no matter what colour, creed or race and who better to show us how important it is today than the next generation.

Ofsted recently reported significant progress in implementing national curriculum citizenship in secondary schools. However, the report highlighted the very real difficulty of promoting participation and responsible action in schools. With this in mind we launched the awards as a practical way of involving the whole school in a community activity, which promotes good citizenship and recognises individuals as good citizens.'

Winner of 2006's Good Citizen award, Lludel Bryant from Intake High School Arts College, Leeds, was commended for his efforts towards fighting racism in the school community. The campaign spearheaded by the sixth form student was the catalyst for the recent Stephen Lawrence Education Standard awarded to the school for equality best practice.

Peter adds: 'We are looking for exemplary examples of where pupils have shown real empathy with their society, to praise students that both understand the importance of citizenship and embrace it.'

There will be four regional heats to find regional finalists and a national winner. The national and regional winners will receive a trophy and an Ipod, with all entrants receiving certificates.

Nominations of 100 words to include pupil age, teacher contact details and a brief student profile of why they are a good citizen should be sent to: competition@selecteducation.com. By 7th December 2007.