BT is offering young people the chance to win a berth on Gipsy Moth IV during her historical 40th anniversary round-the-world voyage. Developed by BT and the UK Sailing Academy, the ‘Voice of the Planet’ competition will challenge school children around the country to create a five minute photo-movie documentary to explore the theme of water.

School children will be encouraged to investigate national or local issues that relate to an aquatic theme. They will be asked to link this theme to the Gipsy Moth IV voyage and make use of the video clips and technology links at www.gipsymoth.org. The winner of the ‘star’ prize will join the boat and crew for a leg of the global journey.

A dedicated microsite, developed by BT, will provide all the information that is needed to make the photo-movie. Since photo-movies are made with images created by a digital camera or scanner rather than a video, they can be created by virtually anyone, for virtually nothing. A link to a free downloadable programme from Microsoft called Photo Story will be provided, which is ideally suited to the task of producing the movie.

Entries to the competition will be divided into two categories – primary and secondary. The winning teams in both categories will be invited to send 10 pupils plus one teacher / supervisor to the United Kingdom Sailing Association (UKSA) in Cowes, Isle of Wight for a dedicated one week programme of water-sports activities.

The ‘star’ prize of a trip to partake in one of the Gipsy Moth IV legs, is available only to pupils aged 15 or over, and will be awarded to one pupil of the winning entry in the secondary category. The winners will be announced when the Gipsy Moth IV reaches Sydney by the Chairman of BT, Sir Christopher Bland.

The photo-movies can be produced as a team effort or as a solo enterprise. Entries must be submitted by a teacher and should include a written explanation of how the project was approached by June 28, 2006. For more information and details on how to enter the competition, please log on to www.bteducation.org/resources/view.