Constitutional Monarchy Association Competitions for Young People

Golden Jubilee Competition

In Golden Jubilee year the CMA organized a competition for young people through schools and youth organisations throughout the United Kingdom.

The main object was to increase understanding among young people of the role of our constitutional monarchy and of our Queen and our Royal Family as highlighted during Golden Jubilee Year.

There were two entry age groups - 7 to 11 years and 12 to 17 years - and the competition was open to all young people in the UK within these age brackets.

The competition for the younger age group was to make a poster about anything to do with Her Majesty the Queen's Golden Jubilee or anything which made an impression upon them when the Queen visited their own local area. Those in the older age bracket are asked to write an essay about the Golden Jubilee. Entries could relate to a young person’s own experience of the Jubilee or about the concept of the Jubilee or the monarchy in general.

The criteria by which entries were judged were originality, technical expertise, the amount of effort put in, a new slant on the subject, a particularly personal recollection and much else and so anybody submitting any sort of entry stood a good chance of being selected for a prize because all these criteria were taken into account in the judging. We particularly stated that in spite of the association's name and objectives we were not looking for essays or posters which would be complimentary to the monarchy but that entries discussing or raising issues to do with the Monarchy or the Jubilee were of course acceptable and indeed desirable.

We were inundated with entries and it took a panel of judges drawn from among educationalists around the country many hours to judge the work of the huge number of participants.

As many entries as possible were displayed at a major exhibition held subsequently in Windsor and the winning entries were seen by HRH The Prince of Wales.

The Association offered a range of prizes for the competition; the first prize in each age range was a state-of-the-art computer for both the winner’s school or youth organisation and for the winner. There were additional prizes of software packages for runners up and Golden Jubilee medals and certificates of merit for the entries that the judging panels deemed to be highly commendable.

The winning poster entry featured on the front of the CMA Christmas Card 2003.

We feel it was a most valuable exercise in encouraging a deeper interest in, and discussion of, our constitutional monarchy. It was a major part of the CMA’s ongoing educational programme.