Young Pavement Artist of the Year

The Young Pavement Artists Competition (YPAC) is a national competition to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy and to bring together children and young people of all abilities to have lots of fun!

Schools, community and youth groups can take part by holding their own exciting creative pavement event to help raise funds for the charity. And participants who might find it difficult to get down to the pavement can use chalks on paper to create their own visions. Each year has a different theme and winners of the local events can enter the national competition. There are five age group categories plus a banner competition – so there are plenty of opportunities to become a winner!

Mark Speight, from Children’s BBC is the president of the Young Pavement Artists Competition and is keen to get as many schools as possible taking part:

“Pavement art can make a real difference to the life of someone who has muscle disease. Each year thousands of young people take part in this street art competition and raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, helping hundreds of individuals who are facing the challenges of muscle disease. So ask your teachers or youth group leaders to sign up and get drawing!”

A dedicated website provides a guide to organising a local event, tips on using pavement chalks and a series of lesson plans for teachers. These plans support the National Curriculum in Science and Citizenship, helping children understand disability, muscle disease and the earth’s environmental changes.

The competition was started by Barbara Bate. Barbara’s brother was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy as a child. Sadly, he died at the age of 16, but Barbara set up, chaired and worked with the Westminster Branch of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign for many years to raise awareness of the condition. In 1986, she had the idea of launching an art competition to encourage children and young people to become active in helping those with Duchenne, and YPAC was born. Ten years later, the London-based event went national, and young people all over the country were introduced to the pleasures of getting on to their hands and knees and producing their personal masterpiece on a flagstone or piece of paper on the ground.

Click here to go to the competition's dedicated website!
www.muscular-dystrophy.org/pavementart
www.muscular-dystrophy.org/pavementart