Past Competitions
2023/24 Competition
How Does War Affect People’s Lives?
Click on the picture to the left to see all of the winning pieces in this year’s competition! Well done to each and every one of you who participated! The NSI team is hugely proud of each one who took part and had their voices heard!
2022/23 Competition
What Does War Mean to You?
Please enjoy the brilliant poems, speeches, songs and pieces of artwork created by young people from around the world, reflecting on the key question,
What Does War Mean to You?
Click on the image to the left to view the winners booklet!
2021/22 Competition
Life After Conflict
The final year of this cycle saw the most powerful images yet. See the winning work in the booklet on the left.
2020/21 Competition
Unheard Voices of Conflict
We heard from young people in 99 countries during this competition. Click on the image to view the winning work.
2019/20 Competition
Impact of Conflict on Communities
We received over 4,000 entries into the competition! Young people from 44 countries created poetry, art, speech and songs. The competition also held two bonus strands, A Fight for Freedom and 75, drawing inspiration from the Second World War. Please enjoy the winning work by clicking on the booklet cover.
2017/18 Competition
The fourth and final Centenary Competition in 2017-18 was bigger than ever, with submissions from more than 40 different countries, territories and dependencies spanning five continents. The final centenary competition received 7,136 entries from across the world. More than 10% of these were submitted by young people from Greece as part of the Salonika Remembers project, in partnership with the British Council, British Embassy in Greece, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and Museum for Macedonian Struggle.
The 2017-18 Competition also included two bonus strands, Thank You and the War in the Skies (RAF100). Together with The Royal British Legion we invited young people to pay tribute and say Thank You to the First World War generation. And in partnership with RAF100 we encouraged children to consider the war in the skies as part of their contribution to mark 100 years of the world’s first independent air force.
View the 2017-18 Winners online
Prisoner of War, by Mina Soso
2018 Projects: Together and the Island of Ireland
In 2018 we also piloted two unique projects, Together and the Island of Ireland Project. For Together: a UK-German Centenary Project, in partnership with UK-German Connection, the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, the British Embassy in Berlin, and the British Council in Germany, we invited young people from the UK and Germany to draw on the events of the First World War to create poetry, art, and songs with a message of hope and unity. And working with the Glasnevin Trust we were delighted to extend the competition into Autumn 2018 for schools in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and celebrate the amazing creativity of children and young people across the Island of Ireland.
Peace, by George Sanders
Between the Crosses, by Kate Dwane
View the winners of Together
View the Island of Ireland winners
We Are Making A New World, by Cameron Hair
2016/17 Competition
In 2016-17 the competition grew by 40% from the previous year, with a new Welsh poetry category and the launch of the Songs of the Centenary project - a global quest for songs inspired by the First World War. In total this third year saw 1,910 submissions - including entries from all corners of the UK, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Romania.
Dominions Sacrifice by Edward Brown
2015/16 Competition
In the second year of the competition, a new Gaelic category was added and the competition was opened to children and young people worldwide. In total there were 1,653 entries to the 2015-16 competition, from as far and wide as Orkney, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, New Zealand and the USA.
Gassed, by Amirzan Jeyakumar
2014 Pilot Competition
In 2014 Never Such Innocence piloted a poetry and art competition to schools in England, encouraging them to engage in the history of the First World War and respond creatively to their learning. The pilot was a success, with over 600 entries received and a demand to expand the competition to include primary schools.
