Through eleven interviews with young people who entered the Voices competition, Coram found out why young people decided to apply and if their experience of the competition helped them.
Key findings
Young people applied for one of three main reasons:
- To share their experience of care with others
- To try something new
- To strengthen their writing skills
All young people felt that they had benefitted from participating in the competition by at least one of the following ways:
- It inspired them to write more
- It improved their writing skills
- They came to terms with being in care
- They felt recognized for their talent
- They got their work published
- They met other children in care
- They gained experience of public speaking
The competition could be improved by expanding the different types of categories to include song, rap and comic strip and to reach entrants more directly via social media.