Aspiring Welsh teens win environmental journalism competition

We’re excited to announce the winners of this year’s national Young Reporters for the Environment competition!

Aspiring young journalists from across Wales entered the competition, raising awareness of the impacts of plastic pollution through written articles, photography and film.

Young Reporters for the Environment Litter Less Campaign is an international journalism scheme, run in Wales by charity Keep Wales Tidy on behalf of FEE (The Foundation for Environmental Education) and funded by the Mars Wrigley Foundation.

We are delighted to announce the national winning entries in Wales for 2021 are:

Osian Mathias from Cardiff won the top prize in the 19-25 written article category. Osian’s report ‘Plastics and the Pandemic’, looked at the effects of COVID-19 on litter in South Wales. Read the full article, including interviews with Cardiff Rivers Group and the Marine Conservation Society, here.

Ellis Jones from Cardiff High School won the 11-14 photography category for his photo “Nearly Made It”. Ellis was inspired after a visit to a local park and seeing the amount of litter that was only a few metres from the bin. You can view the photograph here.

Emily McDonagh from Llantwit Major won the 11-14 article competition. She wrote about the impact of plastic pollution on hometown and on a global scale. You can see her entry here

As a prolific litter picker, Daniel Lewis from Merthyr Tydfil came out on top in the 15-18 photography category. Daniel’s “The Bogey Road” captures all the litter and fly-tipping he witnessed on one stretch of road over the course of a few weeks. You can view the photograph here.

Pupils from Trinity Fields School, in Ystrad Mynach won the 11-14 film category with their entry, “Don’t Bin the Bag”. The YRE jury were impressed with the film, which is packed full of tips for reusing plastic items. View it here.

Last year’s winners, Ysgol Clywedog, in Wrexham won the 15-18 film category with their entry ‘How can we reduce global plastic pollution?’. Pupils collaborated online with schools in Lebanon and Melilla (Spain) to highlight how plastic pollution affects countries around the world. View it here.

I am so happy to win the Wales Young Reporters for the Environment competition. Having an award means so much to me and as it relates to the environment it means so much more.

Ellis Jones,
Winner 11-14 photography category

We were overwhelmed by the response to this year’s YRE competition. Although young people have faced a difficult time over the past year, it’s clear that their commitment to the environment has not faltered. I hope that these award-winning articles, photos and videos will inspire other people to change their behaviour and reduce their plastic waste. I’d like to wish our national winners the best of luck in the forthcoming international competition.

Lesley Jones
Chief Executive for Keep Wales Tidy

Visit our Young Reporters pages to find out more about the programme.