In recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed profound racial, gender and economic inequities. The social impacts are being felt most deeply by people of colour, women and girls who are already historically disadvantaged. At the same time, every day extraordinary people around the world are courageously working for equity, justice and a better future.
Now is an important time to listen and learn from each other. We want to highlight the powerful work you are doing to create a more just and equal world. Whether you're a teenager in Texas organising dialogues between local police and students; a team of educators in Guatemala delivering learning materials to girls in rural areas; a group of young women in Nairobi distributing health and menstrual hygiene supplies; or an organisation in Thailand teaching film to young people - we want to hear your stories and amplify your voice
Benefits
All the stories will be part of our online collection. 15 stories will receive a financial prize of US$ 500 and will be exhibited at the celebration of International Girl Rising Day in October 2020. The selected stories will be featured on Girl Rising's social media channels.
How to get in:
Girl Rising is looking for diverse stories of how individuals, groups and organisations are working to support racial justice, gender justice, access to education or simply help their communities at this challenging time. Tell us one of the following:
A story about yourself - Share a story that demonstrates what you have done to promote gender equity and/or racial justice, or to meet a need in your community.
A story from your community - Share a story that demonstrates what a person/people have done to promote gender equity and/or racial justice, or to address a need in the community.
A story about a group or organisation - Share a story about how a group or organisation you know is taking action to promote gender equity and/or racial justice or to address a need in the community.
The deadline for entries to My Story: The 2020 Girl Rising Storytelling Challenge is 1 September 2020. After reading the full Terms and Conditions of the challenge, there is a simple process for submitting your story. If you're under 18, get your parent or legal guardian to sign this consent form and send it to info@girlrising.org.
Anyone over the age of 14 can submit a story in various formats.
Accepted formats:
Video/Audio (maximum 2 minutes)
Writing (essay, poem, song, etc.) (500 words maximum)
Photos (up to 3 photos)
Artwork (up to 3 digital images)
Language:
We accept stories from anywhere in the world and in all languages. Instructional translations can be found in Spanish, Urdu, Bahasa, Vietnamese and Thai. If you submit a story in a local language, we encourage you, where possible, to include an English translation or subtitles. For essays, this translation will not count towards the word limit.
For more information:
