National Talent Competition now open!

The National Talent Competition (NTC) has arrived! If you’re aged 12 to 25 you can RockIT, WriteIT, ShootIT, SnapIT or DesignIT to win some awesome Sony prizes, including digital SLR cameras, VAIO notebook computers, and much more.

We are pleased to be able to inform you that Australian female performer, Marcia Hines, now joins Tara Moss, Genevieve Clay, Ken Duncan, Trevor Flett and Andrew Hoyne as judges of the NTC Industry Award.

Find out all the details on how to enter and the amazing prizes on offer on the comps page. While you’re there, check out the winners from last year for inspiration!

Win Free Stuff

Want a fast and easy way to win cool prizes? Get to the comps page to find out how you can Win Free Stuff by answering questions in 25 words or less!

National Youth Week Launch

National Youth Week is nearly here, so we’re gearing up to kick it off like never before, and we want you to join us.

This year we’re having two amazing national launches held from 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm on 10 April: one in Victor Harbor, SA, the other in Parramatta, NSW. Our host locations were determined by the NYW ourspace competition, and the two winners, Olley and Anna. Check out their winning entries.

There will be loads of activities and live music happening at both locations on the day so if you’re near Victor Harbor or Parramatta, grab your mates and help us launch National Youth Week!

Can’t make the event? Watch it online at www.youthweek.com or check out the Video Hits National Youth Week Launch Event Special airing on Channel Ten on 17 April.

Online Events Calendar

Check out our brand new National Youth Week online events calendar. Use it to check out what is happening in your local area during National Youth Week, and pick the events you’d like to go to. Make sure you keep an eye on it – more and more events are being added as we get closer to National Youth Week.

If you’re organising your own event, you can submit the details to have them published! It’s all on the events page.

National Youth Week in your state or territory

Express yourself at Youth Week Queensland

Queensland’s Live it Now online competition is now open and seeking creative entries from young people across the state.

For the chance to share in a prize pool of $6000, all you have to do is express yourself about an issue that matters to you, using whatever creative medium you like.

Make a video, record a song, write a story, or take a photo – it’s up to you! Express your ideas, opinions and creativity and you could win fantastic prizes such as laptops, cameras and video editing software to further your creativity. You can check out last year’s fabulous entries on Queensland Youth Week.

Queensland will also host 30 funded events for Youth Week 2010 ranging from battles of the bands to sporting competitions, creative workshops to art exhibitions, festivals to forums. New events organised by young people across the state are being added to the site every day. Visit our calendar of events to see what’s happening in your area.

And it’s not too late to organise your own event for Youth Week. Check out the Queensland website to see what other young people across the state are doing, get tips to organise your event, and don’t forget to register on the Queensland calendar of events.

Keep up to date on the Queensland Department of Community Services’ Youth page or become friends with us on Facebook at the Youth Week in Queensland group page.

Western Australia

Western Australian young people will be spoilt for choice during National Youth Week, with a range of activities scheduled to run across the State from 10-18 April.

More than 70 community groups have received funding to hold an event to celebrate National Youth Week and young people in Perth will celebrate with a concert at the Northbridge Piazza. The concert is part of the Mental Health Division and WA Music Industry Association’s Music Feedback project, which features local and international bands highlighting mental health issues.

National Youth Week kicks off in WA with the first ever regional launch, in the port town of Albany, approximately 500km south of Perth.

Youth Minister Donna Faragher will open the event at the PCYC complex. The launch, coordinated by the Department for Communities’ Office for Youth, will feature:

• Interactive art exhibitions
• Bucking Bull
• Bungee Run
• Flywall
• Live music performances from Mitchell “Fingers” Cullen and hip hop artist Optamus
• A Skate/ BMX demo and competition (sponsored by Hillzeez Surf Shop)
• Southern Edge Arts Noongar Youth Festival (yarning circle, didgeridoo/tapping workshops, hip hop workshops, traditional food and six seasons mural art)
• YMCA mobile youth bus
• Youth agency displays and activities
• A live youth radio broadcast (100.9FM).

The event is supported by various agencies and community groups including: the City of Albany, Southern Edge Arts, headspace Great Southern, Albany PCYC, WA Country Health Service, Young House, Albany Youth Advisory Council, Shire of Gnowangerup, Denmark Youth Centre, Shire of Katanning, YMCA, Albany Surf Life Saving Club Youth Council, Lions Club of Albany, Great Southern Employment Development Committee and the Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre.

For more information contact:

Perdie Gough
Tel: (08) 9841 0782
Email: Perdita.gough@communities.wa.gov.au

Rebecca Freeman
Tel: (08) 9841 0790
Email: bec.freeman@communities.wa.gov.au

Principle Partner update

BeyondBlue

Mental health is a hot topic for young people

Youthbeyondblue are proudly supporting around 100 events across Australia. beyondblue is a major supporter of National Youth Week, because depression and anxiety are very important issues for young people.

After their relationships, young people value their physical and mental health the most.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says every year about one in 20 young people aged 16-25 will experience depression. That means, around 160,000 young people currently have depression and/or an anxiety disorder. Young women have twice the risk of developing these illnesses as young men.

Program Director of Education and Early Childhood at beyondblue, Dr Brian Graetz, says it is important for young people to be open about how they are feeling.

‘‘We want young people to know that there are strategies to help when things go wrong. It’s also important to know that it’s OK to talk to your friends if you’re worried about them. They won’t hate you, they will think you’re a very nice person for caring,” he said.

It’s important that people know where to go for help. The Youthbeyondblue website is full of information and advice about dealing with the challenges that many young people will inevitably encounter as they’re growing up.

Australian Youth Forum

In 2010, the Australian Youth Forum (AYF) is sponsoring the NYW ‘Design IT’ competition. The AYF support young people to be creative and ‘Design IT’ is an excellent way to do this.

The theme chosen for 2010 is ‘Share Our World’. You can show Australia your world. Everybody’s world is different – so what is yours?

The AYF is an Australian Government initiative that provides an opportunity for young Australians and the youth sector to engage with the Government and contribute their ideas and opinions directly on issues that matter to them and to society as a whole. It is open and accessible to all young Australians.

To contribute your opinions and ideas though the AYF, please visit the AYF website.

You can also sign up for email updates about the AYF through ayf@deewr.gov.au.

The AYF will be at the launch sites of NYW on 10 April so we hope to see you there.

Australian Federal Police

Competition challenges youth to think creatively about missing persons issues

As the sponsor of this year’s photography competition – SnapIt – the Australian Federal Police’s National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) is keen to see how entrants will interpret the competition theme and is hoping to see fresh angles on how missing persons issues are perceived by young Australians.

The SnapIt competition theme for 2010 is ‘Misunderstood. Miscommunication. Misadventure. MISSING’ – reflecting that despite the commonly-held perception that young people who go missing are simply ‘runaways’, there are a multitude of reasons which may influence a young person becoming a missing person in Australia.

Entrants are encouraged to interpret the theme on a number of levels, including through creative exploration of issues such as the dangers that young people may be faced with when they are a missing person, and how the experience may impact on family and friends who are left behind when someone goes missing.

In addition to its sponsorship activities through National Youth Week, the NMPCC is also participating in a global campaign to raise awareness of missing persons issues affecting children in support of International Missing Children’s Day on 25 May 2010.

This year the focus for International Missing Children’s Day is parental child abduction, with eight countries from across four continents joining together to raise awareness of missing children and strengthen global efforts to find them.

The NMPCC also runs an annual National Missing Persons Week campaign to raise awareness of missing persons in Australia, and will be exploring opportunities to promote the winning SnapIt image in future campaigns.

For more information about the issues and impacts of missing persons in Australia, visit the Missing Persons Website.

Department of Health and Ageing

Rock out safely!

For the second year in a row, the Australian Government’s Don’t turn a night out into a nightmare campaign is partnering with National Youth Week (NYW) to highlight the risks of drinking too much alcohol.

This year, Australia’s budding young musicians are being asked to put together an original song based on the theme of ‘Make your night out one to remember’ – as part of the RockIT category of the NYW’s National Talent Competition.

The entries for RockIT will celebrate different ways young people have fun and express themselves without having to get drunk.

Having a couple of drinks while checking out some rocking live music can be a great way to spend a night out, but there can be a fine line between ending your night on a high note and it turning into a nightmare. Drinking to get drunk can put you or your friends in dangerous or embarrassing situations.

Check out the stats:

• On average, one in four hospitalisations of people aged 15-24 happen because of alcohol
• One in two Australians aged 15-17 who get drunk will do something they regret
• 70 Australians under 25 will be hospitalised due to alcohol-caused assault in an average week
• Four Australians under 25 die due to alcohol-related injuries in an average week.

Check out further information about the NYW RockIt competition on the comps page.

You can also get further information on the Don’t turn a night out into a nightmare campaign.

Headspace

headspace is all about helping young people aged 12 to 25 with health and mental health issues. headspace proudly supports National Youth Week and will be holding events and activities throughout April around Australia.

To find out what Youth Week events you can get involved with, or to check out if there is a headspace centre near you, visit the headspace website.

Some National Youth Week events include:

• headspace Murraylands will be holding lots of events for the artistically minded including a youth art exhibition, theatre workshop and Battle of the Bands. Or for those who like to catch some air, check out the Skate Park Jam.
• headspace Central Australia will be part of the National Youth Week opening ceremony at the Alice Springs Youth Centre which will feature music, dance, drumming and circus performances.
• headspace Mt Druitt will be launching The Heart of Art exhibition on 15 April which will feature artwork by young people. Also come say hello to the headspace team at the BURBS youth festival and check out our interactive stall.
• headspace Barwon have partnered with Musicbox Theatre Company, the Courthouse Youth Arts Centre and the City of Greater Geelong to present “The Girl in the Mirror”.
• headspace Northern Tasmania are opening the doors and inviting young people to check out their new centre and meet the headspace team.

headspace provides health and mental health information, support and services to young people and their families across Australia. There are 30 headspace centres across Australia where you can find someone else to talk to.

Partner update

Carers Australia: Celebrating and acknowledging young carers

Carers Australia, the national peak body for family carers, is excited to be supporting National Youth Week 2010 and recognising the achievements of young people in Australia.

National Youth Week is a time to celebrate the contribution of young carers in our community. There are 380,000 young Australians providing care to a family member, relative or friend with a disability, mental illness or long-term illness. It is important to recognise that the care provided by these young people each and very day is enriching the lives of their families, their communities as well as saving the government money.

Carers Australia has a program in each state and territory specifically to support young carers who:

• would like to meet other young carers
• need help managing school/work commitments
• want to take a break, and get more help from other services
• are feeling sad or worried about their health or their family’s health
• would like more information about caring for a family member, relative or friend.

Each of our carer associations run a variety of social activities and camps – an opportunity for young carers to have fun and take care of themselves. It’s a good way to meet other young people who understand what it’s like to be caring for a family member, relative or friend.

To find out more, call 1800 242 636 or go to the Carer’s Australia website or the Young Carer’s Australia website.

The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation

The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AER) are delighted to be an official Partner of National Youth Week 2010. We hope that all young Australians get involved and take advantage of the great events happening in their local area from 10-18 April and truly ”Live it Now”!

Who?

AER is a unique, independent, not-for-profit organisation with a goal to change the way we drink.

What do we do?

AER collaborates with grass-roots community organisations, all levels of government, police, researchers and the private sector to turn evidence-based research on alcohol and solvent misuse into practical, real-life solutions. Our dedication to creating a safer and healthier Australia sees AER forming new partnerships and alliances with like-minded organisations, with a focus on youth and Indigenous issues.

Why?

Alcohol misuse continues to be a $15 billion problem for all Australians. AER is serious about changing attitudes and behaviours towards alcohol. This means that we need to share the responsibility for taking action on the issue with governments, the Private Sector, the health industry and in general, the broader Australian community. Looking forward, AER will continue its unwavering commitment to positively changing Australia’s drinking culture to one of safety and responsibility.

We’d love to hear from you!

Drop us a line at aerf@aerf.com.au
Visit our website www.aerf.com.au
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/AERF