Aims:

The competition is organised and promoted by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, the organisation for Parliamentary and political journalists at Westminster. The aim of the competition is to promote awareness and discussion of the values of parliamentary democracy and the political process.

Title:

Years 10 and 11

In a manifesto a political party declares what it would do if voted into power. Write a letter to the leader of any of the major political parties suggesting a new idea for their next manifesto. Explain carefully why you think your proposal would be popular with voters at the next general election.

Your letter should be no longer than 800 words.

Years 12 and 13

Write an article suitable for publication in a national newspaper suggesting how first–time voters can be persuaded to participate in the next general election. You could focus on political policies or voting procedures or both.

Your article, with an appropriate headline, should be no longer than 1500 words.

Eligibility

(a) Age

Entrants must be pupils in any of the year groups specified at the time of submitting their entry.

The competition is divided into two year groups, i.e. Group 1 will cover Years 10 and 11; Group 2 will cover Years 12 and 13. There will be one winner from each age group in each region (see (b) below), i.e. a total of two winners per region. In addition there will be one overall competition winner per age group, selected from amongst the regional winners.

Entrants must be pupils in any of the years specified at the time of submitting their entry.

(b) Regions

The competition is open to residents of the UK (including the Channel Islands) and will be conducted regionally as follows:

England: East Midlands, East Anglia, London, North East, North West, South West, South East, West Midlands, Yorkshire & The Humber

Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland

There will be one winner from each year group (see (a) above), in each region i.e. a total of two winners per region. In addition there will be one overall competition winner in each age group, selected from amongst the regional winners.

Conditions of Entry:

1. Verification

All entries must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet giving the entrant’s

• Name
  
• Age and date of birth
  
• Year group
  
• Contact address and telephone number
  
• E-mail address (if applicable)
  
• School and education authority
  

This sheet must be signed by the entrant’s teacher, parent or guardian to verify that the details given are correct and that the essay is solely the work of the student concerned. Entries are limited to one per entrant.

2. Length

Years 10 and 11: the essay must be not more than (and not substantially less than) 800 words in length.
Years 12 and 13: the essay must be not more than (and not substantially less than) 1,500 words in length.

3. Submission

The closing date for entries is Friday 26th November 2004. Entries received after this date will be deemed to have missed the closing date and will not be considered.

Entries may be hand written or typed and may be submitted either by post to
The Administrator
Parliamentary Press Gallery
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

or by e-mail to pressgallery@mail.com

Handwritten entries must be legible. It will not be possible to return submissions made by post. The Parliamentary Press Gallery accepts no responsibility for lost or incomplete applications.

4. Publication

Winning entries may be published either on-line or in the printed media. Copyright will rest with the Parliamentary Press Gallery.

5. Qualification

Any entrant who in the opinion of the judges has not met the criteria laid down in these rules will be disqualified automatically.

6. Judging

In reaching a decision the judges will take into account relevance to the title set and the strength and logic of the case put forward. There will be individual judging panels in each region which will choose that region’s winners; a national judging panel will then choose the overall winners in age group from amongst the regional winners. The decision of the judges is final. The Parliamentary Press Gallery will not enter into any correspondence about the results or individual entries.

The winners will be announced during the week commencing 10th January 2005. A list of the winners will be published on the Parliamentary Press Gallery’s web site during the same week.

7. Prizes

Each prize winner will be invited to spend a day in London in late January/early February 2005 on a date to be confirmed. Included in the day will be a

• A tour of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and Houses of Parliament
  
• A meeting with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Rt Hon Michael Martin MP, and other leading politicians
  

No cash alternative to these prizes will be offered.

All reasonable expenses incurred by the winners in travelling to London will be met. Winners may be accompanied by one parent or guardian, whose expenses will likewise be met by the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Reimbursement of expenses will only be made against receipts.