An exciting competition is giving secondary schools in Dorset and Devon the chance to represent the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site at the 2009 UNESCO UK World Heritage Youth Summit.

A team from the winning school will take part in the summit, the first of its kind in the UK, to be held locally in Lyme Regis on Friday 22 May. 

To enter, young people in the region are being asked to express what the Jurassic Coast means to them - and why they think it's so special.

Entries should consist of a brochure, collage, poster, podcast or poem that communicates how they feel about their local World Heritage Site based around one of the following four themes:

• World Heritage and Tourism
• World Heritage and Identity
• World Heritage and the Environment
• World Heritage and a Culture of Peace.

The competition is open to all 14 to18-year-old pupils at secondary schools in Dorset and Devon. 

The Youth Summit and competition are part of UNESCO's ‘Making Sense of Our Sites' project. Twenty-five UK World Heritage Sites will be inviting their local schools to take part in the competition, with four to six young people from each of the winning schools attending the summit in May.

The winning team will have a chance to meet other young people representing their local World Heritage Sites, such as Stonehenge, the Giant's Causeway, the Tower of London and even the historic town of St George in the British territory of Bermuda.

The UNESCO UK World Heritage Youth Summit also marks the first day of the 2009 Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, where hundreds of school pupils across the Jurassic Coast area will have an opportunity to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and his theory of evolution.

Throughout the UK, local World Heritage Site co-ordinators will nominate three schools per site to go through to the final judging panel.

Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Education Co-ordinator, Anjana Ford, said:

"We're looking forward to seeing some really inspirational pieces of work, which capture the essence of how young people are connecting with World Heritage Sites on both a local and national scale."

If you are interested in entering the competition, please contact Anjana Ford at the Jurassic Coast Team on 01305 225101. 

More information, including competition guidelines and a ‘Making Sense of Our Sites' poster to download, can be found at www.jurassiccoast.com/makingsense

The closing date for all entries is Tuesday 31 March 2009.

Anjana Ford, World Heritage Education Coordinator