A regionwide competition was held for young people aged 12 to 18 to create the designs to be used on the wellbeing postcards. The competition received over 130 entries from across Dumfries and Galloway.
The panel of judges, met on 19 February and chose four winning designs. The four designs have now been printed on to postcards produced by the Cameron Grant Memorial Trust who have provided the council with enough wellbeing postcards to give all young people in our secondary schools a free postcard.
The postcards feature the winning designs created by our local young people on the front and have signposting to local and national mental health support on the back. These will be distributed to all secondary schools this month. The aim of this project is to encourage young people to reach out for help if they need it.
On Monday 2 June, our council held a launch event and prize giving ceremony at Dumfries High School to celebrate this project. At the event, the four winners were presented with their prizes which included certificates, Youth Beatz meet and greet tickets for them and a friend, a £50 Amazon voucher and piece of artwork, kindly donated by Frank Ritchie (mental health campaigner) who brought the idea of this project to the council.
To celebrate all of the young people’s entries and raise more awareness around mental health and wellbeing, the young people’s designs have been printed onto boards. These boards will be on display at this year’s Youth Beatz festival and further locations throughout the year.
Councillor Maureen Johnstone, Chair of the council’s Education, Skills and Community Wellbeing Committee said:
“I would like to say a massive thank you to the Cameron Grant Memorial Trust for their generosity and support in providing these resources for our young people. I am confident these postcards will make a real difference in the short and longer term.”
Vice chair, Councillor Lynne Davis added:
“Well done to all the winners. This is a fantastic example of how partnership, cross-sector working should evolve and I am so pleased for the young people who have been selected as winners. They should be very proud of their efforts.”