Schoolboy meets Sunderland stars after winning anti-racism award for writing

Jack Pollock meets Sunderland players Ty Browning (left) and Ethan Robson after he won an award for his creative writing.

Whitburn CofE Academy pupil Jack Pollock won an award for a piece of creative writing for the Show Racism the Red Card campaign.

Show Racism the Red Card’s campaign soon reaches Stoke City as it recognises its 68 winners of the largest equalities-themed competition for young people in the country, an initiative that has been backed by Sunderland AFC.

The day is being hosted by actor and presenter Lisa Rogers and CBBC presenter, Alex Winters, and will see the young people responsible for this year’s winning entries gather at Stoke’s Bet365 stadium to meet representatives from the club and special guests from the world of football as they are presented with prizes for their award winning entries.

Organisers say this year’s entries feature incredible creative writing, multimedia and artwork from young people ranging from Year 1 to Year 11 with the focus on highlighting the anti-racism theme in various ways such as poetry, short stories, artwork, films and music.

Jack met with Sunderland players Ty Browning and Ethan Robson at the club’s Academy of Light as they thanked him for his efforts.

Defender Browning said: “It was great to meet Jack and hear about how he had been recognised for his brilliant piece of work to win a prize for this competition.

“As a player, I think it’s really important that we can help organisations such as Show Racism the Red Card and continue to educate young people about racism and the issues that still surround it.”

Ged Grebby, chief executive at Show Racism the Red Card, said: “The competition has been running 18 years now and has seen young people produce truly inspirational work, some of which we have then incorporated into our wider awareness-raising activities.”

The competition also has two special memorial awards on show that will recognise the work of the late former England manager Graham Taylor OBE and Jo Cox MP, both of whom worked tirelessly for equality.

For a full list of the winning entrants and to find out more about the competition go to www.theredcard.org/news/2018/4/4/school-competition-2018-the-winners.