School pupils across the island have a chance to win a prize in a competition to come up with a new slogan for the island’s Commonwealth Games team.
The games represent the highest level sporting event at which Manx athletes can compete for their country.
The Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association (IoM CGA), which is a registered charity responsible for organising the island’s team at the Commonwealth Games, is organising the competition which begins tomorrow (New Year’s Day) with the closing date for entries being February 8.
Juliet Holt, president of the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association, said: ‘We are in the process of creating a new logo and new slogan for Team Isle of Man to be used at the next Games in Glasgow in 2014, and during the build-up to the Games.
‘As Team Isle of Man has a role to play in inspiring young people to take up sport – and perhaps themselves one day representing the island at the Commonwealth Games – we thought it would be a great idea to involve school pupils across the island to help us come up with a new slogan.
‘We’re looking forward to seeing some inspiring ideas from pupils of all ages and hope that it gives scope to teachers for it to be included in English classes, or in a business studies class using it as an example of marketing or advertising.’
There is a £100 prize which will be in the form of gift vouchers – £50 will go to the pupil whose slogan is chosen as the winner and £50 to their school.
The slogan must be no more than 30 characters long and must reflect the pride that the island has for our Commonwealth Games team. In recent years Team Isle of Man has used the slogan ‘One Island, One Team, One Goal’.
The competition will be judged by a panel representing the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association, marketing and communications company MM&C, which is working to promote the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association and Team Isle of Man, a Team Isle of Man ‘ambassador’, and a representative from the Department of Education and Children.
Juliet added: ‘The competition is part of our strategy to encourage more young people to engage with Team Isle of Man and the Commonwealth Games in the build-up to Glasgow 2014. The London 2012 Olympic Games have shown the power of sport to inspire a generation of young people.
‘Nothing could match the huge impact of London 2012, but on a smaller scale we could reap significant benefits from Glasgow 2014 with Team Isle of Man.’
According to figures from Global Television and Sunset+Vine, host broadcasters for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, more than one billion TV viewers are expected to watch the event.
The Isle of Man will be one of 70 nations competing in Glasgow between July 23 and August 3, 2014.
The 11 days of competition covers 17 sports; 10 of which are core sports played at every Games and seven selected by the host city. Details of the slogan competition can be found at {http://www.gov.im/education/competitions/cwg.xml|http://www.gov.im/education/competitions/cwg.xml}