Data competition attracts hundreds of entries

Wednesday 15 March 2023

More than 200 children have entered a competition demonstrating their understanding of online data safety.

The first schools' competition run by the Office of the Data Protection Authority was aimed at year seven students encouraging them to think carefully about how they share their personal information, and how to keep it safe.

With young people facing an increasingly online world, the competition – run in conjunction with the Youth Commission and Resolution IT - asked the children to describe a superpower or super sense that would help them look after personal data.

Overall winner Ellie from St Sampson’s High School wowed the judges with her simple but effective entry where she said she wanted a “super protection to protect all the people around the world”.

Charlie from the Grammar School, won the creative award for his imaginative idea to use flying zebras to educate people.

Two runners up were also given prizes for their fantastic contributions: Luna from Les Beaucamps High School and Andrew from Elizabeth College.

Pictured: The winners recently received their prizes.

The competition was part of the ODPA’s ongoing work with the Youth Commission and followed the distribution of a series of four themed postcards to students in their final term of Year 6 and first term of Year 7.

The Bailiwick of Guernsey’s Data Protection Commissioner Emma Martins said it is part of the ODPA’s work to promote greater public awareness of the rights people have under data protection law but also the risks in relation to personal data processing, especially for children.

“Data and its protection matters to everyone in our society. When talking about these issues it is all too easy to talk about or at children. This competition allowed us to hear from them. It was both humbling and inspiring. So many entries stood out because they spoke of the need to protect everyone, not just themselves. They also reminded us of the profoundly human nature of this issue - that ‘data protection’ is simply ‘people protection’. Seeing the world through the eyes of children and young people reminds us to be hopeful, kind and inclusive.

"My heartfelt thanks to everyone who submitted the wonderful entries and very special congratulations to the winners and runners up. We are extremely grateful to Resolution IT for the generous prizes and to the Youth Commission and all the schools for their engagement and support.”

James Kelsh, Director of Information Security at Resolution IT which provided two laptops for the winners, said he was pleased to have supported the programme.

“Resolution IT is delighted to support the ODPA’s postcard competition. As a company specialising in information security, we know all too well how important it is to learn about data safety and your rights to privacy. We think it’s a fantastic initiative – I only wish I’d been taught more about data safety when I was in year 7! Many thanks to ODPA for inviting us to get involved in this project.”