The hunt is on for teams of young people to represent Scotland in a competition linked to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Young people across Scotland are getting the chance to make films that answer two questions:

If you could change one thing in your neighborhood, what would it be? And what could you do to change it?

It’s part of a competition called Big Voice from BT, and it’s one of the education programmes linked to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To enter, teams of young people aged 11-19 need to submit their film proposal by May 27^th.

Three teams from Scotland, chosen by judges, will get £1000 and support from a team of film students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to produce their film next Autumn. They will also qualify for up to £5,000 and support from Unltd., a charity which supports social entrepreneurs, to turn their ideas into a community project.

The resulting films will be screened on giant London 2012 Live Site screens  all over the UK during Spring 2012, with the Scottish winner being announced at a Live Site event in Glasgow. The final stage of the competition is an Oscars-style ceremony to announce the UK winners just before the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games begin.

“BT’s Big Voice is a great opportunity for young people to learn how to work together, consider the big issues, and get a chance to express themselves. It comes with free resources that make it a really educational project,” said Brendan Dick, Director BT Scotland.

The project supports several aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence including interdisciplinary learning, personal achievement and subject areas like the expressive arts and social studies.

There’s still time for other schools or youth groups to enter: the deadline for the first stage of the competition is 27 May 2011.

Full details: www.bt.com/bigvoice

For more information on BT’s Big Voice contact:

Tom Osborn on 020 8960 6069 or btbigvoice@dialogics.com

For press enquiries contact

Anne Bailey on 020 8960 6069 or anne@dialogics.com

Notes to editors:

1. Big Voice comes with a set of five video based resources that introduce the project, teach the skills of group discussion, creative problem solving, turning ideas into a film, and how to develop a film proposal to enter the competition.
2. Students will have the unique chance to incorporate stock footage from the BBC archive as part of their final film. This could include aerial photography, crowd scenes, or other video or audio material relevant to their script that would otherwise be impossible to film in the time and budget available.