My Land, My Story
Congratulations to Kemnay Academy who are the recent winners of the My Land, My Story competition.
What is My Land?
The way the land is owned, managed, and used has a fundamental impact on how we live, and across the country there are countless examples of how individuals and organisations have changed the land around them to transform their communities.
The Scottish Land Commission works to create a Scotland where everybody can benefit from the ownership and use of the nation’s land and buildings.
What is My Land, My Story?
We are inviting schools and youth organisations across Scotland to tell the story of the land around them, with a focus on three parts: what a piece of land in their local area once was, what it is now, and what it could be in the future.
When we speak about ‘land’ we aren’t just talking about an empty field – it's everything from the streets you walk down, the machair you walk on along the coastline, abandoned buildings in your town, or perhaps your local play park!
Interested schools and youth organisations should fill out the application form below where you will be asked some questions about the story you have to tell.
Please note, this competition is now closed.
Process and Applicant Requirements (Terms and Conditions)
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- The Scottish Land Commission’s ‘My Land, My Story’ campaign aims to support a project related to the interests of the Scottish Land Commission’s MyLand campaign, being undertaken by a school or youth organisation across Scotland.
- Applications must be received by the deadline, with no exceptions. The deadline is:
- Friday 21 October 2022
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- Applications must be received by 11.59pm on the deadline date. Late applications will be ineligible.
- You can only submit one proposal per application.
- The award is competitive. Only two schools or youth organisations will each be awarded a £500 grant.
- Please be aware that the quality of your application is important, as well as the content. Complete your application electronically and check for spelling and grammatical mistakes.
- Other factors which will be taken into account are:
- how the activity contributes a clear creative focus on the story you are trying to tell
- your ability to tell the story of your project in a unique way
- how the activity shows a connection to land.
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- The application form must be:
- written by the elected teacher or programme leader, having read the terms and conditions
- signed and dated, and include their contact details
- outline the reasons why they are supporting the school/youth organisation’s application.
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- All applications will be assessed individually. The award will be made entirely at the discretion of the awarding panel and their decision is final. There is no appeal process.
- You will be notified by email on Wednesday 26 October if you have been successful or not. If successful, you will receive payment within two days by BACS transfer.
- Retrospective funding will not be awarded. Your proposed activity dates should commence straight after Wednesday 26 October.
- The grant is fixed at £500.
- If successful, you will be required to submit a 2-3-minute film telling the story of an area of land in your local area outlining the three key pillars: what the land was, what the land is now, and what it could be in the future. Files should be submitted in MP4 format. You will also be invited to attend a launch event to witness the video on or around Wednesday 30 November/ 1 December (TBC). More information will be sent in due course.
- Chosen schools or youth organisations will be requested to submit all content for publication no later than Wednesday 23 November 2022 at 17:00pm.
- If successful, you agree to participate in media promotion around the campaign and your project will provide a suitable profile photo for those purposes.
- The expected timeline for completion of the film will be agreed prior to your acceptance of the award. Acceptance of the grant binds you to the agreed timeline.
- If for any reason your activity or project does not go ahead, you will be required to return the grant.
- The fund is completely independent from any other form of financial support available to schools/youth organisations.
- The Scottish Land Commission accepts no responsibility or liability for any injury, loss or damage incurred as a result of any activity which is undertaken in pursuit of fulfilling the aims of the Scottish Land Commission’s ‘My Land, My Story’ campaign. Please make sure that you have fully evaluated any risks and that you, where appropriate, have arranged any necessary insurance.
Eligibility
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- The award is open to all registered Higher Education pupils studying at a Scottish secondary education institution, at any year group.
- The award is open to all youth organisations with members aged 11-19 years old based in Scotland.
- You are not eligible to apply if:
- You are part of a Scottish primary education institution.
- You are a youth group which has members under the age of 11 years old.
Exclusions
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- The grant cannot be used, in part or full, to pay for:
- equipment or materials – unless clearly and solely needed for the project being undertaken
- organised class trips
- anything commercial in nature.
If additional expenses or equipment is required, please contact MyLand@wearematerial.co.uk where we will provide support and guidance
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- The Scottish Land Commission ‘My Land, My Story’ campaign is not a hardship fund. If you are in financial difficulty, please contact your local authority support officer to discuss the range of financial support options available.
Data Protection
Our Privacy Policy is available on our website
Why we collect your data
We will collect and process the personal data you provide to us during the application and screening process for the purposes of processing the award.
What we do with your data
We will use this information to contact you in relation to the award. Your personal information will be shared with members of a panel who are responsible for assessing your suitability for an award, and you agree to supply us with accurate information.
How long we keep your data for
We will retain data for as long as it is required to process awards. After a maximum of 18 months your contact information will be removed from our systems.
What data we collect about you
We collect the following information about you: full name, date of birth, contact information, and education information.
How to request your data
You have the right to know what data is held about you and access, amend, restrict processing of or request removal of that data. If you would like to make a request to obtain/amend/restrict processing of or request removal of your data, you can do so by emailing MyLand@wearematerial.co.uk.
What is your story?
There has been a derelict building we all walk by every day to get to school. The doors are boarded shut, and danger signs and tape warn us to keep out. It seems dangerous and isn’t very nice to look at. The rest of our high street looks quite good, but this is ugly. One day in math class, we were asking Mrs Brown (who has worked at the school for 50 years!) where she met her husband (Mr Brown, he works with us too) and she told us it was at the cinema on the high street…all of us were very confused as we don’t have a cinema…but it turns out that old building we pass every day was a really cool cinema in the 70’s and sometimes had bands playing on the weekend. We don’t have much in the way of things to do at the weekend around here, and we aren’t old enough to go into the city ourselves yet, so we all thought it would be amazing for the old cinema to be brought back to life and turned into a place for us to hang out on the weekends! It would mean we don’t have to kick around the local parks and can have a sense of community. The pandemic was tough for us, and we know how important it is to be around our friends.
How would you tell this story?
We would find old photographs from the past and ask Mr & Mrs Brown questions, and anyone else we can find in the local area who can remember how great the cinema was.
Then we will film videos of the way it looks now.
Finally, we will interview individuals in the schools or youth organisation about what they would like the piece of land to become and ask people in art classes to help draw what it could look like.
Our seaside town was historically a fishing town. Lots of our great-grandparents moved here to work on the fishing boats, or worked in the fish factories, and then our grandparents were born, then our parents, then us! Sadly, the fishing industry began to get outsourced to other countries because it was cheaper, and lots of people lost their jobs. In the last 10 years, lots of cruise ships have come into the harbor every
summer. We have done some research, and we know that cruise ships produce and dump large amounts of sewage and waste into our oceans, pollute our beaches and destroy the sea life. It is such a shame because the sea life was our industry, and now that history is being destroyed. We know that in Glasgow they are working to have a low emission zone, and we would love that in the future there was low emission zones for cruise ships, meaning they wouldn’t be able to enter our shores unless they were sustainable boats, and this would create change for other small places in Scotland (and maybe even the UK!) who have the same problems.
How would you tell this story?
We have lots of pictures in the local area of the town when it was a fishing town, and some clips too, so we’d use these to create a slideshow of life before.
Then, we would show imagery of what cruise ships do to natural habitats and display statistics on the screen about the impact of these.
Finally, we will write a letter to the First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon expressing our concerns and what we would like to happen in the future.
How would you tell this story?
Then, we would show imagery of what cruise ships do to natural habitats and display statistics on the screen about the impact of these.
Finally, we will write a letter to the First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon expressing our concerns and what we would like to happen in the future.
