Helping young people make the right decisions about their health- apply to join the panel!

Have your say on young people's health!

Join a national online panel for young people!

Application Closing Date: 15th October 2012

A new online panel for young people is being set up, the aim of the panel is to support young people to make the right choices about their health.

The Department of Health is launching a new programme to help young people make informed choices about their health, with a particular focus on risky behaviours (smoking, drinking alcohol, taking illegal drugs and unsafe sex). It wants to normalise everyday conversations about these behaviours to create an open, positive and supportive environment for young people to ask questions, find out more and voice concerns. Don't be shy or embarrassed to speak out!

The main difference between this campaign and those done in the past is the fact that it will be looking at all risky behaviours; tackling smoking, drinking alcohol, taking illegal drugs and unsafe sex together. The new campaign will primarily target 11-16 year olds and their parents as communicating early to young people about these health issues is critical, although the youth panel will consist of 13- 16 year olds.

They are looking to recruit a panel of young people who will discuss various topics related to the campaign.

What will being a member of the youth panel involve?

The ‘youth panel’ will enable young people to have a real involvement and input into the campaign and help other young people.

The majority of discussions will take place on a safe online site and forum set up by a company called Social Go. Social Go is a secure online network which will be set up and monitored by the department of health. Using a safe online network will be the most efficient means of communicating with our panel. The online site and forum are quick and easy to enter and overcome the issue of panel members being located in different areas of the country. The forum will provide anonymity for all members of the panel at all times which is important as they will be discussing personal opinions

The young people involved will be invited to discuss their views in a forum; we would require each member of our panel to contribute to at least 4 forum discussions in a year. We understand that the young people on our panel will have busy lives and so they will have the flexibility to choose which forum sessions they are able to attend. We will also contact the panel members to test and develop content for the campaign, ask their opinion of creative work, find out their attitudes to brands, and talk to them about issues that affect their lives and what are usually the barriers to conversations.

Who are they seeking to recruit for our panel?

They are looking to recruit:

-       A panel of 50-60 young people, aged 13-16 (about 15 from each year group to ensure a fair spread of opinions across the diverse range of ages)

-       A diverse spectrum of young people, from those who are very opinionated and vocal, to those who are less confident and forthcoming when expressing their opinions (the online youth panel with Social Go gives a level of anonymity which will allow young people, who would usually be less vocal to express themselves in a less intimidating setting)

-       A spread of people from different areas of England.

-       we welcome applications from individuals or two young people can team up and submit an application as a partnership

 How to apply?

Applicants can pick from ONE of four options below and answer both the questions in the category. The categories are all related to relevant new digital technology and popular culture which young people are familiar with.  

For a written application the maximum length is 180 words for each answer. The answers can be written in word and sent as an attachment by email or written in an email.

For a video application the maximum length is 60 seconds for each answer. The video can be uploaded on to Vimeo (a site where videos can be uploaded by anyone and are password protected) http://vimeo.com/, the link to the video, and/or the username and password to watch it must then be sent to us by email

Please note both questions must be answered to qualify.

To send applications by email the subject line must be youth panel followed by the question category being answered (gaming/mobile phones/social media/reality TV)

Subject line e.g. youth panel- mobile phones

Emails should be sent to thepanel@23red.com

The final deadline for applications is the end of August, applications will be reviewed on a first come, first served basis.

Questions

Gaming

1) What do you think are the best games? What makes them so good?

2) If you were creating your own game what would it be like?

E.g. tell us what would the theme would be, what players have to do etc.

Mobile Phones

1) What do you think about smartphones being used at school? Are they helpful for studying or just a distraction?

2) If you were going to create a mobile app, what would it do?

Social Media

1) What social networks do you use? What do you use them for?

2) What changes would you make to Facebook to make it better for you and your friends?

Reality TV

1) What do you think of TV talent shows like The Voice, Britain’s got Talent & The X Factor?

2) If you could make a reality TV show what would the theme be, what would you get people to do and who would be the judges?

 The Judging criteria

When reviewing the applications we will be evaluating the following 3 criteria–

- Presentation of ideas (how the ideas are expressed).

- Development of ideas (how the ideas are expanded/ explained using more detail).

- Creative thinking when answering question 2 (come up with original ideas and unafraid to put potentially different ideas forward).

Rewards for involvement

Every time a member of the panel participates in a forum their name will be entered into a prize draw for large grand prize draw at the end of the year. The more they participate the higher their odds of winning become. The grand prize draw will take place a year after the panel is formed.

There will also be sporadic prize draws every three months to reward panel members for their loyalty and input to our campaign.

The prizes will be provided by some of our commercial partners, they are yet to be confirmed at this stage.

For more information

If you have any questions about the youth panel or would like any more information about the campaign please do not hesitate to send an email to thepanel@23red.com

Date Posted: Tuesday 2 October 12

Author: Christina Gregory

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