Schools competition winning entries on display in the South Georgia Museum

Winning entries from competitions for junior school children to draw and write about South Georgia are now on display at the South Georgia Museum.

Thanks to your support, an exciting package of educational materials has been produced about South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) and sent out to 8000 schools.
The pack aims to use lessons from South Georgia to inspire a new generation of environmental custodians. The SGSSI education materials have been distributed completely free of charge to thousands of junior schools as part of the 2021 Hanson Box initiative. Two competitions encouraged use of the films, booklet, map and other information in the SGSSI pack. Now the top three entries in both competitions will be seen by the thousands of visitors to the museum this season.

A colourful sketch of an enormous Blue Whale won the drawing competition, which asked pupils aged 5-7 to draw their favourite animal or plant from South Georgia. A short story centred around a Black-browed Albatross’ search for fish and krill as the species fights for survival, won the writing competition for pupils aged 7-11.

Alison Neil, SGHT CEO, announced the competition winners during a live event on 7 October 2022. Children from countries around the world were watching, including Mexico, the USA, Canada and the UK. Alison feels the children have really captured the essence of South Georgia and the magical place that it is. She hopes the students are now inspired to learn more about the natural world and the ways we all need to protect it.

The Hanson Box Project is an educational initiative by the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation (DHCF). The South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands materials were funded by SGHT with assistance from the DHCF and the Friends of the British Overseas Territories, as well as the generosity of you, our supporters. The DHCF provided generous book voucher prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed winners and for twenty runners in each competition.

Stewart McPherson, naturalist, filmmaker and author, is instrumental to the Hanson Box initiative. He created the six engaging online short films about South Georgia that form part of the education pack. The specially created films can be found on the SGHT YouTube channel.