Entries for this competition have now closed
The judging panel is currently reviewing entries and winning entries will be announced soon.
What is forced marriage?
Contrary to common belief, forced marriage does happen in Australia and it can happen to anyone from any religion, culture, gender, sexuality, age, or disability.
Forced marriage is a form of family violence and modern slavery. A marriage is forced when there is no free and full consent to the marriage from one or both parties. This is different from an arranged marriage, where a marriage is organised by a person’s family, but they have the right to accept or reject the arrangement.
Forced marriage can have devastating impacts on individuals, their families and their communities.
How does Anti-Slavery Australia help?
Anti-Slavery Australia at UTS supports people who are in a forced marriage or worried about being forced to marry. We provide free and confidential legal assistance, and we also make referrals to other support services, such as counselling and housing. Additionally, we run Australia’s national forced marriage website, My Blue Sky, where anyone can access free information and resources for themselves or for someone they are helping.
The Creative Arts Competition
The Speak Now Creative Arts Competition aims to empower young people to support peers who may be experiencing forced marriage. The theme of this creative arts competition is ‘Supporting Your Friend’. We are asking you to create an artistic work that illustrates how you can support your friend who may be at risk of forced marriage.
This is part of the prevention work that Anti-Slavery Australia does. We are aiming to raise awareness within school communities about forced marriage, empower students with the skills to support their peers and loved ones, and show them what support is available and where to get help.
By participating in this competition, you will learn what forced marriage is, what it looks like, how it affects people differently, and how you can better understand, identify and support those affected.
We will display the creative art pieces on Anti-Slavery Australia’s website and social media platforms.
To learn more about forced marriage and get help, go to mybluesky.org.au.
Prizes
- Visual stream: $500 for 1st place, $200 for runner-up
- Written stream: $500 for 1st place, $200 for runner-up
- Performance stream: $500 for 1st place, $200 for runner-up
- School prize: $1000 to the school that submits the most entries
The total prize pool is $3100.
Each entrant will receive a certificate of participation from Anti-Slavery Australia.
Details for students
The Speak Now Creative Arts Competition is run by Anti-Slavery Australia and its Speak Now Youth Ambassadors. The competition is open to high school students across Australia from Years 7-12. The competition aims to educate young people about the risk factors of forced marriage. Students will learn techniques to support their friends who may be at risk of forced marriage and where to find help.
1. Creative Arts Competition Details
The theme is ‘Supporting Your Friend’. Your challenge is to:
1) Create an artistic piece that answers the question: “How can you support your friend who is at risk of forced marriage?”
There are 3 streams for entries:
• Visual: works such as a poster, cartoon, collage, artwork or photograph
• Written: works such as a short story, poem or song lyric
• Performance: recorded works such as a song, dance, skit or short play.
2) Upload your creation with your entry form.
3) Each entry must include a written paragraph (no longer than 100 words) that explains your work.
2. Important Notes
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Students can enter individually or as part of a group (up to 4 people).
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Only one entry is allowed per person or group.
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Strictly no plagiarism – all work submitted must be your own, created for this competition.
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All entries must be submitted online. If you are taking a photo of your work, please do not include your face in the photo.
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All work must be respectful and sensitive to cultural and religious practices
3. Judging
Entries will be judged by Anti-Slavery Australia’s Youth Ambassador team and the Director of Anti-Slavery Australia, Professor Jennifer Burn. Entries will be assessed according to content, creativity, originality, effort, and quality of both the work and the written explanation.
4. Entries – ENTRIES ARE NOW CLOSED
- All entries must be uploaded and submitted through the online submission form.
- Files should be a maximum of 10MB and in one of the following formats: image (.jpg, .gif, .png), PDF (.pdf), Word (.doc, .docx) or PowerPoint (.ppt, pptx). If your file is a video, audio, or larger than 10MB, please upload your work to a file-sharing website, like Google Drive or Dropbox, and provide a link to it.
- File names should be saved using the student’s name and school name e.g. SmithH_SydneyHigh.jpeg
- If for any reason you are unable to use the online entry form, please contact us by email at ASAyouthresearch@uts.edu.au.
- By submitting an entry, the student acknowledges that they have read and accepted the Rules and Privacy Notice for the Speak Now Creative Arts Competition. Check the online submission form for the Rules and Privacy Notice.
- The entry must be the student’s original work, created for the competition.
- Anti-Slavery Australia will acknowledge all entries received. It is your responsibility to ensure that we have received your entry.
- The closing date is 30 June 2023
For more information, please contact us at ASAyouthresearch@uts.edu.au.
Details for teachers
The Speak Now Creative Arts Competition will be presented in two parts, a video and a flyer. Both are available for download below.
Part 1: Introduction Videos
The introduction videos can be played to students at assembly or in class. The videos go through the competition details and talk about how young people can support friends who may be experiencing forced marriage.
Pressures Around Marriage – How to Support Your Friend
Click here for the direct link.
Part 2: Creative Arts Competition
After playing the video, teachers can briefly reflect on the video and encourage students to ask questions. Following the discussions, teachers will introduce the competition to students.
Teachers will distribute flyers to students which contain the competition details on one side, and a forced marriage explainer and recap of the video on the other side.
There are also extra resources available, such as links to My Blue Sky and an advocacy toolkit to help support someone at risk of forced marriage.
If teachers receive questions from students that they are unsure about, they can contact Anti-Slavery Australia at ASAyouthresearch@uts.edu.au.