Summer Geography Competition

Wherever you are heading over the summer holidays, keep an eye out for all things geographical so that you can enter our lovely competition...

The competition is open to all students who will be in Year 8, 9, 10 or 11 in September, and there'll be a prize for each year group.

Your challenge is to create a collage of your geographical summer holiday. You might want to include maps, photographs, tickets, objects.... from places you visit. It doesn't matter whether you're going to Crich Tramway Museum or the Great Wall of China, and your collage can be based on a day, a week or the whole summer holiday.

Entries will be judged on creativity, imagination and geographical-ness...

Your entry needs to be handed to Miss Ellis in H7 by the end of the day on Friday 9th September, and must be clearly labelled with your full name and your [new] form.

Have fun!!

Young Geographer of the Year 2011

Could you be the RGS's Young Geographer of the Year 2011? Click on the flyer below to go to the RGS's website where there are more details about the competition and what you need to do.

Young Geographer of the Year 2010

"Sorting the wood from the trees; the future of forests" is the title of this year's Young Geographer of the Year competition, organised by the RGS-IBG.

It would be brilliant to have some Swanwick entries this year... Find out more on the Geographical website, or come and speak to me next week...

Good luck!!

South Georgia!

It's been far too long since I've had a look at the fantastic South Georgia webcams... It's looking pretty cold and miserable there today, but there are plenty of seals about! Prize for the first SHS person to spot a penguin and send me a copy of the image with the date and time....



For those of you who've not yet seen the South Georgia webcams (why not?!), click on the South Georgia tag at the bottom of this post to find out more...

Climate Change Competition...

Care about climate change? Fancy a trip to Copenhagen? Then watch this video and enter the competition!! Come and see me if you want more details or help with your entry...

Young Geographer of the Year

Not long until the closing date for the Young Geographer of the Year competition - the theme is Arctic Journey and the prizes are fantastic!

More details about what's involved here - closing date is Wednesday 15th April... get your skates on!!

Fancy yourself as a travel photographer?

The Guardian are running a travel photography competition for under-16s... All you have to do is to send them a photograph of a place that you love that will make people want to go there...

Prizes up for grabs include a family ticket to Alton Towers and a £50 book token... More details here.

Are you the Young Geographer of the Year 2009??

It is Young Geographer of the Year time again - and there are some fantastic prizes up for grabs! For the 16-18 year old category, the prize is a place on a month-long BSES expedition to East Greenland, and for the 13-15 category and the 12 and under category, you could win a 5-day "Arctic Ice Adventure" - both are fantastic opportunities and you'd be daft not to enter!! (Oh, and you can win some fab Geography goodies for school as well!)

What you need to do:

"We want you to carry out a project that involves a journey to the Arctic. What would you take with you and why? What would ensure your journey’s success? Your project should reflect a thorough investigation into the geography of the Arctic and a realistic portrayal of a journey to the North Pole. We would also like you to include one luxury item for your journey and an explanation of your item of choice and your reasons for choosing it.Your entry can take whatever form you think is most appropriate – be it a written report, a short video film, a photographic essay, an audio file or a mix of all of these. The most important thing is that you plan and research accordingly for your Arctic journey and most of all – make sure to be creative and have fun!"

If you want more information, click on the picture below to link, or come and speak to me...

Where's Wally?

If you're a "Where's Wally?" fan or a Google Earth fan (or both!) then today might be your lucky day!! Borders Books and the Daily Telegraph are running a competition (with holidays up for grabs as prizes) - and all you have to do is to find Wally in Google Earth!

Click on the picture below to find out more... And then get searching!!

Young Geographer of the Year

A quick reminder that you have until 30th April to get your entries in for the Young Geographer of the Year Competition...

The theme this year is Explore Your World...

"We want you to carry out a project that involves you exploring the world around you. The project must be completed somewhere in the UK, and must involve you getting out into the real world and making a geographical investigation – it could be a survey of your local streets or a study of a stretch of coastline. We want you to bring geography alive and show how it helps us to understand the world in which we live. Your entry can take whatever form you think is most appropriate – be it a written report, a short video film, a photographic essay, an annotated map, an audio file or a mix of all of these. The important thing is that you get out of the classroom, away from your computer screen and into the outside world."

Great prizes to be won! Full details here... Get exploring!!

Young Geographer of the Year

It is Young Geographer of the Year time again, so if you fancy winning a trip to the Himalayas or a mountain bike, then check out the website of Geographical Magazine and find out more...




This year's theme is Explore Your World, and you need to get out there and do some investigating! The closing date is 30th April, so get thinking about some ideas!

Could you be a Climate Change Champion?

"Are you passionate about the environment? Could you spread the message about climate change and represent England?"

Then visit the Climate Change Champions 2008 website and find out more about what sounds like a fantastic opportunity!

Some ideas to get you started here... But you'll have to get your skates on - the closing date is 9th November!

Green Film Competition!

Just spotted the Friends of the Earth Green Film Competition on Alan Parkinson's blog. They want people to create 60 second films exploring how we look after our planet, and use it like there is a tomorrow... Some good prizes to be had... And best of all, they've enlisted the help of my old favourite Morph to advertise it!



You've not got long til the closing date on the 20th August though, so check out the details here and get creating!

Send us a postcard!

Another little competition that I hoped would be in Hallmark this week, but for some reason didn't make it... However, I might as well tell you about it just in case...

The Geography Department would like you to send us a postcard this summer... It makes no difference whether you are going to Bakewell or the Bahamas - pick a postcard that shows what the place is like, tell us about where you are, what you're doing, what the weather's like, etc. and send it to Miss Ellis at school... The school address is available from the website, or email and I will send it to you.

One postcard from each year group will be selected in September, and its owner will win a geographical goody bag!

Cloud Photo Competition

The closing date for the Cloud Competition has been extended... You now have until the end of school on Monday 18th June to get your photos of clouds (interesting shapes, colours, textures, patterns, etc.) in, either by email to geogtastic@yahoo.co.uk or on a CD or memory stick to me in Hums. The competition is open to all SHS students, parents and staff, and the only rule is that the photo must be your own...

Keep checking back as well - details of the exciting Geogtastic Summer Postcard Competition coming soon!

Fab cloud picture!!

Just spotted this fab cloud picture taken by soarvalleygeography on Flickr...

And don't forget... get out there with your camera (in between visiting bookshops) and take some cloud pics of your own to enter into the Geogtastic Cloud Photo Competition!! (Scroll down for details...)

Photo Competition!

Thank you for all the excellent entries to the photo competition - and apologies for taking so long to announce the winner.... well done Josh, 8NSq, who took this fab photo of Carr Naze Point near Filey, on the Yorkshire Coast.

With half-term fast approaching, it's also time for the new competition... This time, we'd like your CLOUDS photos! For some inspiration, check out the Cloud Appreciation Society website... The closing date is Friday 15th June, the competition is open to all SHS students, staff and parents, and entries can be emailed, or brought in on a CD or memory stick...

Get snapping!!

And while you're out with your camera, why not take some pictures to send to Geograph or try some GeoSquishing?!

Great Britain in 2050??

What do you think Great Britain in 2050 will be like?

The Ordnance Survey are running a competition, with the theme "Mapping the future of Great Britain" to find out what you think... And you could win yourself an iPod Nano, and your entry might be used for the OS corporate Christmas card!

More details here...

Thanks to Emma for letting me know about this!

Geogtastic Photo Competition!

News should be going out in this week's Hallmark of a Geogtastic Photo Competition...

It is open to all SHS students, staff and parents, and all you need to do is take a photo over the holidays with a geographical theme and email it (together with a brief description) or bring it in to school after the holidays on a CD or memory stick. The closing date is Friday 20th April.

So, wherever you are heading, remember to take your camera with you. And don't worry if you're not off to foreign climes... There's plenty of good photography to be had in sunny Derbyshire!

Get snapping!!

Reminder - Young Geographer of the Year

A reminder that you have just over a month to get your entries in for the Young Geographer of the Year competition...

Some fabulous prizes to be won - and all you have to do is come up with a magazine cover (Age 12 and under) or write a magazine article (13-15 years old and 16-18 years old) considering the question "Can recycling save the world?".

You can find full details of the competition from the Geographical website by clicking on the picture, and there are lots of links to get you started on Rob Chambers' blog.

Once you've got your entry together, come and see me to complete an entry form and then we can get them sent off in good time!