The Department of Economic Development is pleased to announce the winners of their children’s marine energy conservation painting competition, supported by the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.
The Isle of Man Government is currently working on an Isle of Man Marine Plan to establish how it can use the seas around the Island to create sustainable resources of clean energy and minerals with minimum disturbance to the environment’s habitats and species and the other more traditional uses of the sea.
Schoolchildren were asked to paint a picture, draw, design using IT or give a written description on how they think the sea can be used to help explore these economic opportunities and what they would like to see within our territorial waters. They were also told to illustrate the future use of the sea and seabed which could include the use of new technology, consideration of environmental and important ecological issues, capture and utilisation of resources and more traditional uses, such as fishing, sailing and transport as well as subsea cables and pipelines, and suggest how it will help the economic development of the Island.
The entries were judged by Laura Hanley, Department of Infrastructure; Phil Corlett, Friends of the Earth and George Fincher, the Manx Energy Advice Centre. The winners from a total of 34 entries were:
1st prize Abbie Edwards, Onchan Primary School
2nd prize Erin Haswell, Onchan Primary Shool
3rd prize Charlotte Babb, Onchan Primary School
The prize presentation, sponsored by Long and Humphrey, took place in the Department of Economic Development’s Energy marquee at the Royal Manx Agricultural Show.
Laurence Skelly MHK, Department of Economic Development Member with responsibility for Energy Policy, said:
‘We recognise the importance of getting young people involved in energy saving and this competition was a great way of doing that. We received some very impressive entries from the pupils which made it a very difficult decision for the judges.
‘I hope Abbie, Erin and Charlotte enjoy their prizes and all the children who took part in this initiative have gained a lot of knowledge about energy efficiency and renewable technologies in the process.’
Competition winner Abbie Edwards was delighted with her prize. She said:
‘I really enjoyed putting the idea and picture together but I didn’t think I would win so I’m very happy that the judges picked me as the winner.’
Abbie’s father, Tony Edwards said:
‘I’m really happy for Abbie as she put a lot of work into this. I think clean energy and energy saving ideas are great topics for the children to focus on. All of us need to be aware of these things, both now and in the future.’
Photo caption - Winner Abbie Edwards (centre) flanked by runners up Erin Haswell (2nd place) and Charlotte Babb (3rd place). Shona Quayle (back) represents awards sponsor, Long and Humphrey.
