The Health Action Awards are braced for a bumper entry this year to celebrate their tenth birthday.
Organisers Action Cancer and independent retail group Centra are calling on all 1,600 of Northern Ireland’s schools to get involved.
Action Cancer’s Health Promotion Manager Emily Magrath said the unique awards scheme gave nurseries, schools and colleges the chance to gain recognition for their health promotion projects.
“The Health Action awards are now a central element of our schools’ programme, which has delivered health promotion sessions to almost 420,000 young people, encouraging them to develop a healthier lifestyle. As 40% of cancers can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle it’s vital that we involve as many children as possible from nursery age upwards,” she said.
Past winners have been rewarded for introducing healthy breakfast and lunch options, promoting increased fruit and water consumption, extra-curricular exercise programmes and cancer awareness initiatives. There are Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards for nursery, primary and secondary educational establishments.
Schools and colleges wishing to enter the awards can get an entry form from Action Cancer by contacting the charity on 028 9080 3344 or online at www.actioncancer.org
A prize of £200, to be spent on school equipment, will be awarded to the highest scoring pre-school or nursery, as well as each of the top scoring primary schools, secondary schools or colleges in each of the five Education and Library Boards. An overall cash prize of £400 will go to the school that demonstrates the best improvement on the previous year.
Nikki McDowell from Centra added: “Health Action is the only programme of its kind in Northern Ireland; developed for local schools by Action Cancer and Centra to help young people stay healthy, so they can reduce their risk of ill-health in later life. Centra is extremely proud to support Action Cancer in this important work.”
Completed Health Action Award forms must be returned to Action Cancer by April 27, and successful schools will be notified at the end of the academic year.