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AFTER three months of hard work by schools all across Bahrain, the four age group category winners of Eden Challenge 2009 – the schools competition established by Riffa Views Signature Estates to inspire the kingdom’s school students to consider the importance of the environment – have been selected.
Project entries, required to highlight the various ways that innovative techniques for the conservation and management of water in the 21st Century interact with and support everyday surroundings, closed last week – giving the judging panel of four, led by Riffa Views’ Garden & Landscapes Ambassador, Chris Beardshaw, a first look at the wide range of high quality, imaginative and well thought out projects across the four age group categories.
Richard Browning, CEO of Riffa Views, on hand to view the entries and the judging process, was delighted by the outcome of the competition. He said: “The number of schools that took part this year and the increased effort shown by the quality of the entries demonstrates that the environmental challenge is one that students are keen to take on.
“It proves that investment by corporate bodies in our children will provide sustainable results and so protect their future. We look forward to exhibiting the creative solutions to the Eden Challenge at the Riffa Views Bahrain International Garden Show (RVBIGS).”
Mr Beardshaw, along with fellow judges – Shaikha Muneera bint Ahmed Al Khalifa, Matthew Rushton and Dr Zuhair Al Dallal, had the difficult but enjoyable task of reviewing the 60 entries from 44 schools that had been delivered to the
Each of the four age group categories – Category A: 6-9 years, Category B: 10-12 years, Category C: 13-15 years and Category D: 16-18 years – required entries to be focused on different aspects of the water-based theme and were judged on overall design and presentation, research, content, construction and ‘environmental friendliness’.
The judges, with the experience of judging Eden Challenge 2008 already behind them, were unanimous in the view that the overall standard of the competition entries was much higher this year – it was quite clear to all of them that each of the schools had put considerable effort and depth into the development and design of their projects, documenting and reporting everything in great detail for them to follow.
Mr Beardshaw summed up the judges’ feelings by saying: “The detail that we were expecting for 2009 was far greater than 2008; we were unsure quite how the schools would respond, however we were thrilled and delighted at the level of imagination and detail provided, especially in the younger categories.
“This response is a clear indication of the enthusiasm and commitment of both schools and pupils to explore and express their understanding of the complex environment issues in water as a resource and in the conservation of
Mr Browning congratulated all the schools who had entered, commenting that in many ways they were all winners – as one of the judges, Matthew Rushton, put it: “The most positive and encouraging thing for me was the enjoyment you could see on the kids faces from the photographs that were submitted with their entries showing them hard at work, which is one of the main reasons for holding the Eden Challenge.”
The challenge for the expert judging panel was to review the 60 entries – 19 Category A, 17 Category B, 15 Category C and 9 Category D – and to decide on a winning school and ‘highly commended’ schools for each category; due to the quality of the project submissions, this was not an easy process and took a great deal of discussion between the judges before they announced the winners.
Three schools are worthy of special mention – the Amena bint Wahab Primary Girls School and the Um Al Qoora Primary Intermediate Girls School, who both ‘fielded’ a category winner and a ‘highly commended’ project – the Um Al Qoora School going one step better than their ‘highly commended’ result last year; and, in some ways perhaps the unluckiest school, the Arabian Gulf Pearl School who provided two ‘highly commended’ project entries but couldn’t quite make it into any of the top spots this year to follow on from their category win in Eden Challenge 2008.
The four category winners will receive cash awards of BD1,000 each to spend on enhancing their environmental education resources and will have their entries built and displayed on the Eden Challenge stand at RVBIGS – Mr Beardshaw spent some ‘post judging’ time discussing the practical aspects of this display building process with the Riffa Views Eden Challenge team before flying back to the UK.
Each of the schools which entered will receive a commemorative Eden Challenge plaque and have a tree planted in their name in one of
The Overall Eden Challenge Winner, who will receive the overall Eden Challenge trophy and a further cash award of BD3,000, will then be selected during RVBIGS from the four category winners. One thing is for sure, the title of Overall Eden Challenge Winner will remain in female hands, with one of this year’s winning girls schools looking forward to taking over from last year’s overall winners, The Umm Salama Intermediate Girls School.
THE EDEN CHALLENGE WINNERS
Category A Winner Amena bint Wahab Primary Girls School Highly Commended Palms Primary School
Arabian Gulf Pearl School
Category B Winner Um Al Qoora Primary Intermediate Girls School Highly Commended Amena bint Wahab Primary Girls School Al Quds Primary Girls School
Category C Winner Al Qayrawan Intermediate Girls School Highly Commended Arabian Gulf Pearl School Um Al Qoora Primary Intermediate Girls School
Category D Winner Khawla Secondary Girls School Highly Commended Hoora Commercial Secondary Girls School The Indian School – Isa Town Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa Secondary Boys’ School
