SARS, environmental sustainability, equal opportunities & disability – young Internet developers tackle real issues in 2004 web academy 02 April 2004

Academy hails best young web developers as twelve share £30,000 prize.

London, 12 April, 2004: This week sees the launch of the Cable & Wireless Childnet Academy – a new venture that recognises the best young web developers in the UK and abroad. The twelve winning entrants, who have been accepted into the Academy, were recognised after submitting websites, designed and built exclusively by children and young people.

The judging panel selected entries that deal with a surprising breadth of subject matter. SARS, environmental sustainability, disability and equal opportunities were just a few of the evocative topics explored on the winning websites created by web developers as young as ten. The judging panel, consisting of a team of international judges and a special young people's panel (known as ‘The Networkers’) viewed 250 entries from over forty countries worldwide.

“We aim to elevate the Cable & Wireless Childnet Academy to being the global prize for young web developers around the world,” says Stephen Carrick-Davies, Chief Executive of Childnet International. “We were amazed by the breadth of topics tackled by some of the entrants on their websites. It’s exciting to see how young people are wanting to use the Internet to produce their own content and inspire their peers into making a difference to their environment and society.”

These twelve winning projects will each receive a grant from the £30,000 Academy Web Development Fund, as well as ongoing training and mentoring from Childnet.

The UK is well represented, with winning projects in the Schools, Individual and Not-For-Profit categories:

• Ten-year old Jake Lee has worked with his fellow pupils at the Hagbourne primary school in Oxford to produce an outstanding website encouraging environmental sustainability (www.hagbourne.oxon.sch.uk/ecotastic)
• Joanne Evans and Zara Todd, both wheelchair users, used a Whizz-Kidz No Limits Millennium Award to create a website that acts as an information bureau for young disabled people (www.wheelg2life.info)

Non UK winners include websites created by young people in Jamaica, Australia and USA:

• A website, discussing issues surrounding SARS, was developed by a team of students from four continents - North America, Africa, Europe and Asia (www.openscar.com/about.html)
• A group of young Australian women have created a website to promote the idea that women can be successful leaders (www.ogilvie.tased.edu.au/studact2004/leadership)

During the week-long Academy, Childnet and Cable & Wireless will provide specialist web support, leadership training and technical advice to the winning group with participants given exclusive access to a team of internet experts and mentors drawn from the world of education, business and the public & voluntary sectors.

Gareth James, Managing Director of UK Corporate Markets at Cable & Wireless says:

“Cable & Wireless is delighted to continue its long-standing relationship with Childnet International and support the inaugural Childnet Academy. This year's winners offer superb examples of how the web can be used to communicate ideas, inspire others and express personal creativity - as well as being a powerful tool for education and learning.”

The Academy is run on an annual basis by not-for-profit child internet charity, Childnet International, with support from Cable & Wireless. It is open to young people aged 18 or under, and the projects must have been developed by the entrants. The programme has grown out of the highly successful Cable & Wireless Childnet Awards, which over the last six years has rewarded seventy innovative web projects from around the world.

Members of the public can vote for their favourite project at www.childnetacademy.org/winners. The winner will be announced on 15 April.

www.childnetacademy.org

Notes to Editors

About Childnet
Childnet International’s mission is to work in partnership with others around the world to help make the Internet a great and safe place for children. In all its work Childnet seeks to take a balanced approach. Since 1995 the organisation has been developing award-winning education and awareness resources for schools and parents as well as responding
strategically to the policy and protection issues. Childnet is a member of the UK Government’s Home Office Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet.

About Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless is one of the world’s leading international communications companies. It provides voice, data and IP (Internet Protocol) services to business and residential customers, as well as services to other telecoms carriers, mobile operators and providers of content, applications and internet services.

Cable & Wireless’ principal operations are in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, Panama, the Middle East and Macau. For more information about Cable & Wireless, go to www.cw.com.

For further information, to speak to an Academy spokesperson or 2004 winner, or to attend the inaugural academy ceremony on 15th April 2004, please contact:

Nick Dudley-Williams or Ali Grad
Tel: +44 (0) 207 471 6834 / 6831
Email: nick.dudley-williams@maclaurin.com / alexandra.grad@maclauruin.com