Sticker Competition

Help spread the word about munching mosquitoes and malaria and you could be heading for a wild adventure!

Win £2000 towards a cool trip for your whole class!*

This year our Malaria Awareness Campaign has teamed up with intrepid explorer Steve Backshall to run an amazing competition with National Geographic Kids magazine. Why not pick up the latest copy of the magazine and find out how you can get involved and help design an information-packed safety sticker in time for Malaria Awareness Week 2008 (12-18 May). During Malaria Awareness Week we try and get the message out to travellers about travelling safely and avoiding malaria – your sticker could help!

The best 11 stickers will be shown on this website - where everyone will be able to vote for their favourite design. Once the voting is over the winner will be announced and the design will be made into thousands of groovy stickers. The stickers will be displayed in doctors surgeries during Malaria Awareness Week. How cool is that! What's more, that person will win £2,000 for their school to spend on a trip* with their classmates or some fab new equipment. The 10 runners up will also win a trophy and £50 worth of book vouchers each.

So, how can you enter the National Geographic Kids competition? You can either enter yourself or get your class to send in a joint entry. Start by downloading the sticker template and then get your creative juices flowing! Go crazy with colour or bold with black – the choice is yours. Have a look last years winner and runners up if you need a little inspiration. You can also check out this website if you want to find out more about malaria and those pesky mosquitoes.

To download the sticker template click here

Your entry should reach National Geographic Kids magazine on or before the closing date of 18th April. The 11 best entries will appear on this website and there will be a public online vote from the 21st - 30th April so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for when voting will starts! The winner will be announced on 7th May on this website and on the National Geographic Kids website kids.nationalgeographic.com.

Send your entry into NG Kids Competitions, April issue, Unit 1.08 Clerkenwell Workshops, 31 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0AT

Steve says:
"Nearly 2000 British travellers return home with malaria every year. You don’t need to worry about malaria in the UK but if you travel to some far away places you could be at risk. The good news is that malaria can be prevented and there are lots of things you can do to protect yourself.

"I spend lots of time travelling and have visited many remote parts of the world. I know how important it is to look after myself while I’m away and I’ve got some top tips to help you avoid munching mosquitoes"

Top tips for beating the bugs:

• If you’re going to a country affected by malaria, sleep under a mosquito net and make sure you use insect repellent to keep the buzzing beasts away
• Remind your parents that you need to make an appointment with your doctor six to eight weeks before you travel to get advice on malaria
• Mosquitoes tend to bite you at night, so make sure you cover up when the sun starts to go down

* The £2,000 prize can be spent at the discretion of the school of the winning entrant. However, it is envisaged that some or all of the money will be spent on an educational trip for the winning entrant’s class.

Full terms and conditions for this competition can be found here.