Content area
Full text
This summer was busier than I expected it to be, as I became involved as a judge in two competitions. The first was the History Channel's `photos for the Future'. The second was The Millennium Essay Competition.
I was delighted to be invited back to judge the photographs sent to the History Channel accompanied by short explanations of their historical significance. Along with myself representing the Historical Association and Geoff Metzger, Managing Director of the History Channel, there were representatives from English Heritage, the Hulton Getty picture collection, the Royal British Legion and Sutton Publishing, who are again to publish many of the photographs. As with last year's competition this attracted many candidates in all six categories. town and country; war and peace; inventions; childhood; fashions; and the year 2000. There were over 5,000 individual entries, while more than 300 primary and secondary schools took part. Staff the History Channel had previously sifted many of them before the judges arrived. Even so we had a long albeit very rewarding day selecting the winners.
The Millennium Essay Competition came about as the result of an initiative by the American Ambassador, His Excellency Philip Lader. This was to invite British school children to write essays on the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States of America in the twentieth century. It was taken up by the Secretary of State for Education,...