Human Rights Competition: the world I want to live in – celebrating young voices

Our human rights competition was launched in December 2021, you can read about it here. Over the last 6 months we have had a wonderful response with entries from all over the world. It is evidence of the discussions and investigations that young people have been having in schools with the support of their teachers.


The entries showed the wide range of stories, experiences and concerns that young people have and want to communicate. The competition highlighted the range of different experiences that young people are grappling with in their respective cultures and countries. These experiences do not always translate or get heard and understood by other people in different parts of the world.

 

We commend the young people who had the courage to send in entries based on their experiences and concerns. We believe that these art works and creations will speak to others and open a door for young people to understand each other and learn about the different experiences we have around the world.

 

 

The winning entries

 

The judges found it very difficult to choose the winners, many of the entries focussed on personal experiences and it was incredibly brave and honest of students to share their stories.

 

Some of the entries were deeply reflective of real scenarios the young people are contending with in reality, whether that is here in the UK or internationally.

 

There were many entries that linked all human rights together and they were much appreciated by the judges as it is very difficult to choose one human right over another.

 

The judges found some of the excitement of the primary entries very uplifting but often human rights was discussed in the abstract. We hope that young people will continue to find out about human rights and the principles and reality of human rights through creative arts.

Blockquote Title

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood they live in; the school or college they attend; the factory, farm, or office where they work. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Winners in categories

 

Here you can see the winners in the various categories that the judges chose.



Drawing & Painting primary school winners

Drawing & Painting secondary school winners

Podcast winners

Poetry & Spoken Word winners

Illustrated Story winner

3D Art winners

Special mentions



Inspiration from the entries

 

We had so many strong entries that we would like to share them here. If you are doing a project in school about human rights, have a look at these collections of entries so that you can inspire young people to start their own discussions based on the ideas, artwork and creations of other young people in the world.


Collection of artwork entries

Collection of 3D craft entries

Collection of written entries

Collection of speaking entries

Collection of singing entries



We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition, and even those who did not share their artwork with us but did start discussions in their school about human rights, what they are and what they mean.


Thank you to the judges Audrey Osler, Ellie Barrett and Gus John for their time and energy in launching this project and judging all the wonderful entries.


Thank you to our partners The Gambia Teachers Union, National Education Union and The Big Draw.






Steve Sinnott • June 27, 2022

In Harmony With Peace Concert

By Ann Beatty • June 1, 2026
On Friday evening ( 29 May, 7.00 pm The Actors Church Covent Garden) we had the pleasure of listening to this very special concert, bringing together the Choir of King's College London and the Princeton High School Orchestra in a celebration of international friendship, collaboration, and shared values. This project reflects a commitment to peace, sustainability, equality, and cultural exchange, uniting young musicians from the United Kingdom and the United States through the universal language of music.

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here