A team of students from Ramsey Grammar School has won this year’s One World Charity Challenge.

The 16- and 17-year-olds took top spot in the recent inter-school finals event and won £5,000 for their chosen charity Leprosy Mission Isle of Man.

The competition sees students researching the work of a small or Manx-related charity working overseas and illustrating how it has made a positive difference to young people in other parts of the world as well as how it met the UN’s Sustainable Goals.

Each team had 10 minutes to share what they had learned.

The Ramsey team were commended for the impact of their presentation, which involved a shadow show accompanied by live music on the harp from Arabella Ayen, one of the team members.

Speaking after the event, the One World Centre’s Sarah Comish, who was project officer for the Charity Challenge programme, said: ’It was wonderful to finally see the teams perform their presentations after having to postpone the event twice earlier in the year due to the restrictions around the pandemic.

’Despite all the disruption the students have endured this academic year, they carried on enthusiastically and were really committed to raising awareness of their chosen charities.

’I hope they all feel very proud, not only for raising valuable funds for their charities and gaining a better understanding of the role of international development but also for all the skills they have learned along the way.’

Castle Rushen High School came in second place and won the AFD Software Award for Advocacy as well as collecting £3,500 in total for the Pahar Trust Nepal.

Third place was Ballakermeen High School who were awarded £1,750 for Send A Cow while teams from Queen Elizabeth II, St Ninian’s and King William’s College each received £500 for their charities.

A total of £11,750 was given to charity on the night with a further £3,250 awarded to the charities of teams who did not make it through the finals.

The event took place at the Mountain View Innovation Centre in Ramsey and was judged by Claire Bader and Helen Kneale, both from the One World Centre, and Christa McCartney, lecturer of business and sustainability at University College Isle of Man.

The challenge has been run by the One World Centre for 14 years with the aim of helping Manx students understand the inequalities that exist in the world and how individuals and small groups of people can make a difference.

The programme has been supported for the past four years by AFD Software Ltd.

Lindsey Corkill, AFD charity coordinator, said: ’We are especially committed to helping rising generations of young people in the relatively affluent Isle of Man to engage with their responsibilities as "world citizens" and therefore become advocates and instruments for change - especially for the world’s poor and disadvantaged.’