So, after three more exciting in-school heats, we now have all five finalists for this year’s competition. The teams representing Action Village India (QE2 High School), Gumboots (Ballakermeen High School) and Livingstone Tanzania Trust (King William’s College) will join the teams representing Seed Madagascar (Castle Rushen High School) and Street Child (St Ninian’s High School) for the Grand Finals on 26th March.

Congratulations to all the finalists and commisserations to the other teams – the competitions were extremely close in some cases, and there were some great and enthusiastic presentations which were thoroughly enjoyed by the judges.

For the teams going through to the finals, more work awaits to hone those presentations! For the other teams, please wrap up any outstanding work with your chosen charities and reflect on what you have learned and the skills you have practised which will stand you in good stead for the future. You might also like to reflect on how ordinary people can be motivated to make a difference to the lives of others – we can all be part of positive change in this world.

Also remember that the charities of all the teams who didn’t go through will each receive a £100 donation from the Charity Challenge programme. In this very uncertain time for international development funding, we’re sure those donations will be put to good use. Thanks to all for taking part and to the charities who have supported our students this year.

So, following the in-school heats at Castle Rushen High School and St Ninian’s High School, we now know that teams representing Seed Madagscar and Street Child will be going through to the grand finals. Well done to both teams – it was a close call at both schools so the competition was strong!

We should know the other teams going through by the end of this week. Good luck everyone!

A very happy and productive New Year to all our students and charities. Just a reminder that the final seminar will be taking place over the next two weeks – this will cover putting your mulitmedia presentation together – so please ensure you are around for that.

Each school will be scheduling their in-school heat which will give you a firm deadline to work with but don’t leave it to the last minute! Make sure you give yourselves plenty of time to practise – the more familiar you are with the presentation, the easier it will be! See you soon.

We know that many of you have been busy advocating for your charities in the run up to Christmas – we hope you have had fun and also managed to raise awareness of the issues your charity is trying to alleviate and the great work that they are doing to help people affected.

As a little Christmas bonus, we are happy to confirm that, thanks to a generous donation from the Elizabeth Clucas Charitable Trust and a few smaller individual contributions, we now have our prize fund secured. This means you are competing not only for the honour of winning the Charity Challenge title and trophy but also to win cash prizes for your charities. More details on this at the seminar in the New Year!

We are grateful to the trustees of the Elizabeth Clucas Charitable Trust for recognising the value of the Charity Challenge programme and supporting our student teams in this way.

In the meantime, we hope all our students and charity partners have a lovely Christmas break and look forward to catching up with everyone again in January.

All teams should now have their charity confirmed and all schools have had the first seminar about researching and the judging criteria (apart from QE2 where we’ll be visiting on Wednesday). It might seem like you have months and months to pull your research together, undertake some advocacy and start on your presentation but, trust us, time will fly by! If you haven’t done so already, start the conversation with your charity now and start planning who is going to do what amongst your team. Good luck!

We are delighted to be able to offer another programme of One World Charity Challenge to Year 12 students in the Isle of Man. This is your chance to find out more about some of the challenges faced by others, particularly in developing countries and disadvantaged communities – and how small charities are working hard to make a difference for these people.

We are currently launching the programme in schools (so look out for us if you’ve not yet had our presentation). This will be followed by our Meet the Charities Day event where you will have an opportunity to find our more about the charities you can choose to support.

This will take place on Thursday 26th September and your school will arrange for you to attend at a certain time during the day. We look forward to seeing you then but, in the meantime, if you have any questions please email us or ask your link teacher at school.

Let’s get going!

Congratulations to the team from Ballakermeen High School who were awarded first prize in this year’s One World Charity Challenge and a £1,500 donation to their charity Disability Africa. It was a fantastic finale to the competition with all six teams battling it out to win money for their charities – and it was a close contest, with the team from Castle Rushen High School coming in just a couple of points behind in second place but also picking up the AFD Award for Advocacy. The team from Ramsey Grammar School representing The Leprosy Mission picked up third place with a £750 donation and the teams from King William’s College representing The Virtual Doctors, QE2 High School representing Pump Aid and St Ninian’s High School representing Self Help Africa all won £500 for their charities in the runners up spots. Well done to everyone involved!

The tension is building! Good luck to all the teams taking part in tomorrow’s Grand Finals of the One World Charity Challenge. We had some fabulous rehearsals last week and everybody is ready to do their best for their chosen charities. Thank you, as ever, to AFD for providing the venue and technical help, and to all the supporters who have helped us with this programme in one way or another. Check back here on Wednesday for the results!!

So, now we have it, after three more in-school heats we now know all the teams going through to the grand finals. These are:

Ballakermeen – Disability Africa

Castle Rushen High School – Village Africa

King William’s College – The Virtual Doctors

QE2 High School – Pump Aid

Ramsey Grammar School – Leprosy Mission

St Ninian’s High School – Self Help Africa

Congratulations to all those who got through but also to every single team who took part – it’s been fantastic to find out about all the charities you have been representing and all the in-school presentations have been very enjoyable.

There is no let up for the winners now – they have just a few weeks more to hone their presentations in preparation for the grand final. Good luck everyone!