GIANT GECKO CRAWLS AWAY WITH £1,000 FOR ESSEX PRIMARY SCHOOL

Public votes White Court School national winner of sculpture competition

Youngsters at White Court School in Great Notley, Essex are celebrating after being voted winner of the Yellow Pages UK Sculpture Competition 2007.

Children from the school used old Yellow Pages directories to build their artwork, ‘A Mellow, Yellow Gecko’, as part of the Yellow Woods Challenge – a fun and educational environmental campaign for schools based on recycling old Yellow Pages directories.

Naomi Wilkinson, presenter of CiTV’s Finger Tips and five TV’s Milkshake!, chose the sculpture of a gecko as one of six finalists to go head to head in an online public vote.   The seven metre long sculpture went on to receive themost votes and has been named the national winner and awarded£1,000from Yellow Pages.  

Helen Smithson, class teacher and science co-ordinator at White Court School, said: “We’re thrilled to have won the national competition!  The £1,000 prize money will help us on our journey to become an Eco School.”

In second place and receiving £750 is St Catherine’s Primary School in Dorset, for its beautifully crafted version of the Mary Rose. 

Wolverton Primary School in Warwickshire receives £500 for coming third place in the votes, with its clever design of an owl.

Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages directories, said: “We had a record 163 entries for this very popular competition, resulting in a fantastic range of creative sculptures, from caterpillars to castles.  These three schools did exceptionally well to catch the judge’s eye as well as the imagination and support of the public who voted for them.”

Congratulations also go to Willows Primary School in Staffordshire; Clapham Terrace Primary School in Warwick and Carclaze Community Junior School in Cornwall, whose sculptures made it through to the last six and the public vote.

The newly named ‘Big Yellow Pages Art Competition’ is now open for entries. For more information about the competition, please visit www.yellow-woods.co.uk

About the Yellow Woods Challenge

Pupils learn about important environmental issues through free curriculum-linked activities while they collect old Yellow Pages for recycling into newproducts such as animal bedding.  Yellow Pages awards cash prizes to schools for their recycling efforts and gives matching funds to the Woodland Trust. The Yellow Woods Challenge 2007 involved more than 2,300 schools which recycled 737 tonnes of old Yellow Pages directories. 

*Yellow Woods Challenge

The Yellow Woods Challenge is run by Yellow Pages, the Woodland Trust and local authorities across the UK.  Schoolchildren recycle old Yellow Pages directories and compete with other schools to win cash prizes for recycling the most old directories per pupil. 

For every pound awarded to schools, Yellow Pages gives a matching pound to the Woodland Trust – the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. 

All participating schools receive a free educational pack from Yellow Pages, including curriculum-linked posters and classroom activities to teach children about the importance of recycling, woodland conservation and the environment.

Voting

Voting was via www.yellow-woods.co.uk only. One vote was allowed per day, per sculpture.

Naomi Wilkinson

Naomi presents 'Finger Tips' alongside Stephen Mulhern on CiTV on Saturday mornings. She has presented CiTV’s ‘The Yuk Show’ (an educational and scientific programme).

Naomi is also back on Five with a brand new series of ‘The Milkshake! Show’. She balances her time between early mornings on Five with slots on radio, other kids show series and rehearsing for panto, as well as developing lifestyle and fun programming for all ages, often focusing on environmental issues which are hugely important to her.

Yellow Pages

The paper used for Yellow Pages directories in the UK contains 51% recycled fibre plus wood fibres from forestry waste, sourced from sustainably managed forests in Finland. The paper is white and printed with a yellow colour wash. Old Yellow Pages directories can be recycled into cardboard, animal bedding, egg boxes, packaging and insulation materials and newsprint.

Yellow Pages directories are published by Yell, a leading international directories business operating in classified advertising markets in the UK, US, Spain and Latin America.  Yell’s brands in the UK include: Yellow Pages, Yell.com and Yellow Pages 118 24 7.

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity.  It has 300,000 members and supporters.  The Trust has four key aims: i) No further loss of ancient woodland; ii) Restoring and improving the biodiversity of woods; iii) Increasing new native woodland; iv) Increasing people’s understanding and enjoyment of woodland. Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres).  Access to its sites is free.  Further news can be found at www.woodland-trust.org.uk/yell

*The Woodland Trust's ‘Tree For All’ campaign grew from a simple vision – that every child should have the chance to plant trees. The most ambitious

children's tree-planting project ever launched in the UK, it will help plant 12 million trees giving one million children the chance to make a positive difference. For further details, visit: www.treeforall.org.uk

For media enquiries contact: Natalie Clark, corporate, PR & communications officer on 01476 581112, email: natalieclark@woodland-trust.org.uk or the Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121, email: media@woodland-trust.org.uk