SPACE FOR ME COMPETITION

On Monday October 4th, Skyrora will be joining organisations across the world in celebrating World Space Week. This UN recognised event is an international celebration of space, science, and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. Every year World Space Week bases its celebrations around a single theme, this year’s theme is Women In Space.

Organisations are encouraged to join in the international activities by running their own events, and we thought we’d do just that with a creative competition!

HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED A CAREER IN SPACE? DO YOU ENJOY BEING CREATIVE?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then you’re in the right place! In honour of this year’s World Space Week theme, Women in Space, Skyrora is encouraging anyone and everyone to get involved and be creative. We’re looking for you to express what your dream job in space would be. This can be expressed in any way, including drawing or painting a picture, taking a photo, writing a poem, playing music, glueing pasta to paper, etc. (whatever you can think of!)



There are so many types of jobs in the space industry; you can be anything from an astronaut, scientist, or engineer to a lawyer, manager, or rocket business owner - the opportunities are as vast as space! We want you to get as creative as you can to show us what space career you dream of having.



We’ll be choosing three winners and three runners up who will all receive a Skyrora goodie bag! In the name of fairness entries will be categorised into age groups with one winner and one runner up from each:

Make sure you’ve sent your entry to us as a Word document, PDF, photograph, video or audio clip via email to: [email protected] with the subject line “Space For Me” by 12 noon on Sunday October 10th for a chance to win. Please include your name, age, a contact telephone number, and the town in which you live. Your entry must be your own original work. Entries from those aged 4-17 must be submitted by a parent or guardian. We might even feature your entry on our social media! Please let us know if you do not want us to feature your entry online.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE COMPETITION?

This year’s World Space Week theme, Women in Space, is all about equality in the space industry. The UK has already begun taking steps to encourage the representation of women in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). According to a 2019 study conducted by Wise Campaign, the UK saw approximately 350,000 more women participating in core STEM subject areas than in 2009. These statistics are encouraging, however, there is always room for improvement.



That’s why Skyrora seeks to contribute to the growth of women achieving qualifications in core STEM subject areas by encouraging young women and girls to consider themselves working in the space industry through this year’s World Space Week competition. It should be emphasized that although the competition follows the theme of Women in Space, Skyrora welcomes entries from people of all genders, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

HOW WILL ENTRIES BE EVALUATED?

Every entry will be evaluated by the Skyrora business team and voted upon to determine the winners. We’ll be looking out for creativity and originality above all else.

A NOTE FOR TEACHERS & GROUP LEADERS

The primary goal of the competition is to work towards amending the typical stereotypes associated with STEM careers to allow for inclusivity and equality. By introducing a more open-minded perspective of careers in STEM at a young age, we can gradually transform traditional industry standards to foster a more diverse, vibrant STEM, and subsequently space, workforce.



Skyrora encourages teachers across the UK to introduce this competition in their classrooms and set aside time within lesson hours for students to work on their portraits to accommodate students of all backgrounds. The two key dates below could be used as topics for relevant lesson plans in which to introduce the competition. The following text can be used to introduce the importance of the competition and its relevance to this year’s World Space Week theme:

WHAT IS WORLD SPACE WEEK?

World Space Week is an international celebration of space, science, and technology and how they contribute to the betterment of humanity. World Space Week has been held from 4th –10th October since 1999 because two very important space events take place during this week:

4 October 1957: the launch of the first human-made satellite, Sputnik 1, paved the way for future space exploration

10 October 1967: the signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (now the Outer Space Treaty), which ensures that everyone is using space in a peaceful and positive way

The goals of World Space Week are to:

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO ENCOURAGE WOMEN IN STEM?

Everyone has unique individual strengths that can benefit society. It is important to encourage people of all genders and backgrounds to participate in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math activities so that they can contribute their unique skills to help discover solutions that will help people across the globe. Through Skyrora’s World Space Week ‘Space For Me’ creative contest, we can all paint a picture of these unique strengths and how they can make our world a better, more efficient place to live.

If students need help deciding upon a potential dream career, you can refer them to Skyrora’s Space Career Game.

How to organize a World Space Week event? | World Space Week

Please find the ‘Space For Me’ Terms & Conditions here.

The terms and conditions including privacy notice are available here.