Blue Peter launches Our Planet Now competition with Ellie Goulding

winner’s work to feature in animated film at UN COP26 conference

Singer Ellie Goulding lends her support, and filmmaker Jack Harries is live in the studio for competition launch

"This is an amazing opportunity to have your voice heard by world leaders on the climate emergency, a subject that I care deeply about because it’s about your future" — Ellie Goulding

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Blue Peter launches a creative writing competition giving young viewers the chance to win a money-can’t-buy prize leading up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, in Glasgow this November.

Marking Earth Day 2021, Blue Peter (5pm, 22 April, CBBC) is asking viewers to write a poem or short story to captivate the imagination of people all over the globe to act now in the UK’s year of climate action and protect ‘Our Planet Now’. The winning words will become an animation, created by Aardman Studios, which will premiere at COP26 as governments, organisations and civil society are brought together to accelerate action towards the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The winner will also attend the conference to see their film premiered, before it is shown on Blue Peter in November.

The winner will meet the team at Aardman Studios, creators of Wallace & Gromit and Shaun The Sheep, to see their animation being brought to life. Filmmaker Jack Harries and Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell will help judge the competition. The British Library - custodian of the UK’s national collection of published, written and digital content - will also preserve the words to their poem or story in perpetuity.

The competition is being run in conjunction with COP26 and the winner will be announced on Blue Peter in November.

Ellie Goulding, who has recorded a message of support for the competition launch, tells Blue Peter viewers: “This is an amazing opportunity to have your voice heard by world leaders on the climate emergency, a subject that I care deeply about because it’s about your future. We have to act now to protect the planet and your future. Remember your words could change the world, so make sure your writing is powerful and descriptive.”

Jack Harries will be live in the Blue Peter studio today. He says: “I’m really looking forward to being a judge for this competition. This is a topic that is close to my heart and I’m so excited to hear first hand from young people across the UK. The time is NOW to discuss these global issues and to see the next generation have their say on their planet.”

Also in today’s show, Great British Bake Off champion David Atherton will be making potato hedgehogs and presenter Lindsey Russell is on a farm learning how farmers keep soil healthy.

As well as receiving an Orange competition winner’s badge, all 30 shortlisted entries will receive a Green Blue Peter Badge, which was relaunched earlier this month with a Climate Heroes initiative.

More information about Climate Heroes and full rules for the competition can be found at bbc.co.uk/bluepeter

Blue Peter’s Climate Heroes and Our Planet Now competition are part of special content from BBC Children’s across 2021 inspiring children to reconnect with the outdoors. Available on BBC iPlayer, CBBC’s Planet Defenders explores the work of six passionate and charismatic young filmmakers battling to protect the planet.

Notes to Editors

Our Planet Now is the BBC’s wider ongoing commitment to programming which explores the environment and the challenges facing the natural world.

Two other competitions are encouraging a creative response to climate change, showcasing different voices: BBC Radio Scotland has launched the Climate Tales competition for young writers and BBC Arts’ Contains Strong Language returns with the Words First talent development scheme later this year, with broadcast partners BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Asian Network, looking for the next generation of spoken word talent.

Other current Our Planet Now content includes BBC One series, Greta Thunberg: A Year To Save The World; the BBC Two series, Climate Change: Ade On The Frontline; BBC Radio 4’s series 39 Ways To Save The Planet; and Countryfile’s Plant Britain project to get the nation planting.

This May, a week of daily reports and special content on the BBC Sport website - Sport 2050 - will use a panel of experts and scientific projections to explore the impact of climate change on sport and our everyday lives in the next 30 years. On the BBC World Service Newshour will keep listeners around the world up to date by committing to covering climate change every weekday, week in, week out, from the beginning of May. The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 will also introduce a daily climate change update keeping UK listeners well informed of climate change issues with the latest news and analysis in the run up to COP26.

Other upcoming programming into the summer includes BBC Radio 5 Live’s Leeds: City On A Mission, a series of monthly broadcasts presented by Rachel Burden which follows the city as it goes about reaching net zero carbon emissions by its ambitious target of 2030; Restoring the Earth: The Age Of Nature, a three-part series exploring our relationship with nature on BBC Four; and iPlayer exclusive, The People v Climate Change, which takes viewers inside the first ever UK-wide Citizen’s Assembly on Climate Change.

Further information can be found on the BBC’s dedicated Our Planet Now website and there are also Our Planet Now collections on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.

Source BBC One

April 23, 2021 4:00am ET by BBC One  

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