Challenge-tastic
December 10th, 2008 by hbourneYesterday I attended the Make Your Mark Challenge finals for the third time running but was again blown away by the creativity, confidence and enthusiasm of the finalists. My job was to brief Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries (TV presenters and actors, who made their name in Hollyoaks) on their roles as comperes for the pitching stage and the awards ceremony, although I spent more time fighting back the crowds of screaming girls who seemed quite excited to see them there! I was with Darren when he introduced the 14-16 year old groups to come and pitch on stage and he did a fab job of putting them at ease and making it a real occasion.
The pitches themselves were amazing – they included a ‘parkour’ or ‘free running’ roll on to the stage, rap, singing, blind folds, props and some very good answers to some difficult questions from the judges. One team – whose idea was to set up a boxing academy for the community – were asked ‘why boxing, isn’t that contentious?’. In response they confidently told us that angling was more dangerous than boxing. So I might pack my rod away and replace it with a pair of boxing gloves…
One of my favourite ideas was ‘Tile with Style’ from Brannel School in Cornwall – a company which sells clay tiles which people personalise and they are then placed on the ground around the Olympic Stadium. Half the money raised through the sale of the tiles will go to the Olympic Games. The judges made the point that it might be better to do it online rather than send out tiles in the post which would be expensive. I hope the team progresses their idea as it has real potential.
Well done to everyone who took part!
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