Acland Burghley are overall winners in youth safety multi-media competition - Camden Rise

Year 9 and 10 students from Acland Burghley School have been announced as the overall winners of the Camden Youth Safety Week 2020 Multi-Media Competition.

The students were each presented with £50 vouchers and certificates at an awards event last night (Wednesday, 5 February) by Councillor Abdul Hai, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Young People and Cohesion and Co-Chair of the borough’s Youth Safety Steering Group.

Acland Burghley School will also receive a £900 prize from the Council’s Youth Safety Steering Group for their winning entry, announced on Wednesday (5 February) at the official launch for Camden Youth Safety Week (10 to 14 February) held in the Council Chamber, at the Crowndale Centre.

Their raps, one solo performance and two group performances, were filmed in the school’s arts block by a team from Camden Council’s communications department with funding from the Youth Safety Steering Group. It was the first time any of the students had been asked to perform the pieces, which were submitted as audio-only recordings for the competition. This film was premiered at the event last night and is now published on Camden Council’s YouTube channel. Following their win, the school hopes to work with the students to develop these pieces further - possibly with the use of professional studio recording equipment.

The young rappers and singers were congratulated by Cllr Hai as well as Councillor Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, and Keir Starmer, MP for Holborn and St Pancras and Co-Chair of the Camden Youth Safety Steering Group.

Pictured with the Acland Burghley students and local politicians are young people (wearing Youth Safety Week 2020 T-shirts) who compered the launch event and the ‘Real Talk’ debate on knife crime and youth safety which followed the launch and which was also held in the Council Chamber. Some of the Acland Burghley students also participated in Real Talk and contributed to the young people’s debate on youth safety issues.

The two runners-up in the competition, which were both Highly Commended, were both poems - one called 'Here Lies' by Camden School for Girls student Emmanuella Ogunlowo and the other 'Camden Panoramic - This is Our View' by William Ellis School students.

Emmanuella, who is in Year 11 at Camden School for Girls, and the boys from William Ellis School all received £50 vouchers - while their schools both received £200 from the Camden Youth Safety Steering Group.