This year Kudlian Software, creators of the award winning I Can Animate, are supporting the DCFS’s Tune In – Year of Music by launching an exciting competition that challenges pupils to become animators and composers!

Animate to the Beat invites young animators aged 5 to fourteen years from schools across the UK to create a character and introduce them through a short animation and a piece of theme music.

Aspiring young filmmakers can use any type of animation to bring their characters to life and should compose or choose a piece of copyright free music to represent the personality of their character.

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Is there a budding Hockney, Turner or Lowry sitting in your classroom? 10 Downing Street is currently running an art competition for young people, which is divided into three age groups: 5-7, 8-11, 12-16. The winning entries of each age group will be displayed in Downing Street.

There are four rounds and the closing date for this round is 25 February 2010. Each round will have a theme and the current theme it is ‘Keeping Healthy’. The entries can relate to how the students try to keep healthy, diet, exercise, do sports, hobbies etc.

For more information visit: http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21130

At BETT last week we saw a number of new technologies and approaches.  Click below for a quick intro into some of the things that we found interesting.

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Competition 1- at BETT
Working together to inspire excellence in ICT learning: Win a tailored Live Radio Workshop package worth £1500 with Russell Prue, award winning ICT author, inventor and broadcaster!

OCR, Hodder and Naace have teamed up to present this special prize which could bring the remarkable Russell Prue of Anderton Tiger Radio to your centre or school.

Russell’s inspired workshops provide innovative new ways to learn IT skills through the exciting environment of live broadcasting. These fully interactive sessions invigorate learners with hands on activities, while developing key skills such as problem solving and team work.

To enter our prize draw, simply collect your entry form from one the participating stands (Hodder: D67, Naace: J42 and OCR: H50), get it stamped at all 3 stands, and return your completed form to the last stand you visit.

To experience Russell Prue in action, visit him at stand E2BN where he will be broadcasting live during BETT 2010!

Competition 2: Want to see your school’s name in print?
This competition is open to schools in three categories (Early Years & KS1, KS2 and KS3) to design artwork on the theme of “Empowering Learning” for the Naace Strategic Conference brochure. Successful schools will have their artwork included in the brochure and showcased at the event.

The winning schools will receive a prize from the selection of ICT tools contributed by the Naace Sponsoring Partners and the Awards Ceremony will take place at the Naace Strategic Conference on Wednesday 17 March 2010 in Blackpool, where it is hoped that one of our keynote speakers (Lord Puttnam?) will personally congratulate all the winners.

We have some great prizes for this one (and more coming in as we go to press) from Interactive Education, Wyse Technology (a Wyse thin laptop), Young Digital Planet UK Ltd (subscription worth £800!) and our very newest sponsors, Q&D Multimedia Ltd (home and school access subscription)…

To enter simply fill in the registration form at www.naace.co.uk/938 and send it together with your artwork to aga.kelly@naace.co.uk or by fax to 0870 241 4115. The deadline for all artwork submissions is 31 January 2010.

Guidance for schools: Artwork should be submitted as a scanned jpg image (by email) or printed and faxed to the number above. Entries may also be sent directly to Naace, P O Box 6511, Nottingham NG11 8TN. Submissions should explore how ICT can be used to “Empower Learning”.

Are you a budding news hound? Would you like to win a new laptop and a year’s free broadband? All you have to do is make a short report telling us how you think “technology is changing the way we learn”.

Your report could be a 250-400 word written article (with a picture) or a video or podcast of between 90 and 120 seconds. Tell us how technology is used in your school today or the how you would like it to be used in the future. The only limit is your imagination. So if you’re aged between 10 and 18 and attend a UK school, submit your entry by 30 November 2009.

30 lucky winners will get a laptop with free broadband and attend the 2010 BETT Show in London, to spend a day reporting on all that is new and exciting in the world of technology. For more details go to: nen.e2bn.org/livereporter

Enter this competition by posting your video response to the following question:

If you had 5 minutes to talk with the Attorney General on what should be different in the UK today, what would you say?

Please submit your entry by uploading a short film to the tab above. The competition closes at midnight on 16th September. The Attorney General will select up to 30 top entries selected, the winning entrants will be invited to become members of the Attorney General’s Youth Advisory Council. The first meeting of the Youth Advisory Council will be held by November, and those selected will be announced on the 22nd September at a launch event in London. The top three entries will receive an Attorney General award. This is the chance to be recognised and to make a real difference. The Attorney General will write to those selected for the Attorney General Youth Advisory Council, their head teachers and local MP’s congratulating them on their achievement.

http://www.youtube.com/agyouthnet

2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation . It aims are to promote Creativity with Digital Media and promote the benefits of its use in teaching and learning.

Eurocreator is an educational initiative designed to encourage students and teachers throughout Europe to create at least one piece of media. To support this initiative , the EuroCreator website has been developed to facilitate educators and recognise and reward the creativity of young people. EuroCreator offers a pan European platform for students and educators to get creative and share their work. The website will be delivered in 10 European languages and offers certification from the EU Commissioner for Education, Youth and Culture, Jan Figel. ‘….priorities include ed objectives such as: awakening and reinforcing creativity and innovation or developing innovative pedagogic approaches involving the creative arts and schools’ Highlights include……… Certification from the EU Commissioner Delivered in 10 European languages The website offers a Safe & Moderated online environment Online teacher support material Full Technical Cross-platform solution To download the  PDF - The EuroCreator Info Pack which has more information on this project click here

Thanks to Joe Moretti (www.makemoremusic.co.uk) for the heads up on this.

The following details the timeline for this year’s Create It! Awards:

• 6^th March – New Deadline for submissions
• 10^th March – Judging entries
• 13^th March – Schools will be informed of short listed entries
• 20^th March – Confirmation from schools of those people attending on the night
• 23^rd March – Post tickets out to schools, or schools collect from STDC/Shirehall
• 26^th March – Create It! Awards evening at Albrighton Hall Hotel 

Carrying on from the success of the last School Invasions event, which was hosted by Harrogate Grammar school, MySpace is giving 5 schools across the UK the chance to win a gig with Elliot Minor at their school.

They have divided the UK into 5 regions, these are; Scotland, North, Midlands, South East and London, South West and Wales. To view a map of these regions, go to www.uk.myspace.com/schoolinvasions  One school in each of these regions will win a gig with the band. As part of the competition, MySpace will also provide the winning school or college with £1,000 of music equipment.

The event itself is open to pupils aged between 14 and 18 years and they must get permission from their school to enter the competition. Naturally, a school will need to give full permission before the event takes place, if a head-teacher does not want their school to be involved, MySpace will remove that school from the competition.

Voting will be open between Wednesday 12th February and Friday 27th March, with the winning schools or colleges announced on Friday 10th March. The tour will be held between Monday 27th April -  Friday 1st May 2009. The competition is open for anyone to enter although people must have a MySpace profile and be logged in. The tour itself is open to pupils aged between 13 and 18 years.

MySpace will also:

• Provide merchandise/gifts for the pupils that attend the gig
• Provide £1,000 worth of music equipment to the winning school or college
• Liaise with the school or college to ensure security at the event is managed properly

For more information on the competition, MySpace, and our safety and security policies, please go to www.myspace.com/schoolinvasions