The Competition

Aims

The competition is organised and promoted by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, the organisation for Parliamentary and political journalists at Westminster. The aim of the competition is to promote awareness and discussion of the values of parliamentary democracy and the political process.

The 2010 general election and the forming of the coalition have helped energise political debate. People who may have only had a passing interest in politics became gripped by the leaders' TV debates and the high-stakes deal making which led to the Cameron/Clegg alliance. We want to hear the views of the next generation - perhaps the next Diane Abbott, George Osborne or John Prescott, or maybe the next Nick Robinson, Richard Littlejohn or Andrew Marr - on what they think of politics today.

And just as the Press Gallery has changed over the years - we now have bloggers, political websites and Twitter users sitting alongside traditional newspaper reporters - so too has the competition.

While in the past we asked young people to write a speech or an essay, this year we are setting new challenges.

YEARS 10-11 (S3-4 in Scotland)

Imagine you are the party leader of your choice. Your party members are worried about the way things are going politically and are starting to complain. Your task is to write an email to your supporters, explaining what you have been trying to do and why they can look forward to a brighter future.

If you are David Cameron or Nick Clegg, you might want to explain why you decided to take your parties into a coalition government and name two or three policies that might make your parties more popular. If you are the Labour leader (either Harriet Harman, as acting leader, or the permanent leader after he or she is chosen) explain why you lost the election and your plan to win the next one.

In your entry you should make clear which party leader you have chosen and submit a proposed email of no more than 500 words.

YEARS 12-13 (S5-6 in Scotland)

Imagine you are a political blogger – someone who posts provocative, even outrageous thoughts on politics on the web. Your readers expect you to provide interesting, possibly funny, comments on the big political story of the day.

Your task is to watch a big political event – possibly a speech by one of the three party leaders at their annual party conference or a session of Prime Minister’s question time in the Commons – and say what you thought of it on your blog.

Your blog should be no more than 500 words long. Ideally it should contain links to other political bloggers. To give you an idea, among those worth looking at are Paul Waugh, the FT’s Westminster Blog, Guido Fawkes and Left Foot Forward.