Aberdeenshire pupils yesterday grabbed a £3,000 sum to help tackle homophobia in local schools.
Banchory Academy pupils battled it out to win the funding for their chosen charities as part of the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Scotland.
The Deeside school is one of the longest associated with the scheme, having taken part in it since 2008.
The initiative is run by The Wood Foundation – Sir Ian Wood’s philanthropic charity.
The chosen charities included Forget-Me-Not, Rape and Abuse Scotland, Banchory and District Initiatives, Penumbra, Camphill Medical Practice, LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] Youth and SCILL [Supporting Children In Learning for Life].
Yesterday’s judging panel was made up of Lady Helen Wood, north-east MP and former Banchory Academy pupil, Stuart Donaldson, and film producer and screenwriter Richard Burke.
It also featured MSP, Dennis Robertson, local businessman, Bert McIntosh, and former head of English at the school, Anne Cooper.
The winners of the £3,000 were Elysia Garantini and Issey Urquhart for LGBY Youth following a presentation in the form of a video.
Issey said: “We’ve discussed with LGBT Youth what we would do with the £3,000 if we won it and now that we have won it, it will either be going towards LGBT representatives going around all the secondary schools in Aberdeenshire to educate the teachers further on homophobia and how to spot it in the classrooms.
“Or it will go on setting up a service in Banchory, but the funding will only be able to support that for six months. We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do.
“We are also going to set up a support group within the school for anyone who might need to talk about anything LGBT related”.
Bethany Ewen, spokeswoman for The Wood Foundation, said: “The creativity shown throughout the presentations really engaged the audience and the passion for every charity, by every pupil, really shone through.”
Mr McIntosh will donate money to the runners-up.
Banchory Academy has now directed £24,000 towards local causes through YPI Scotland.