The annual Ready, Willing and Mobile competition, organised by national charity Mobility Choice, is once again offering young people an exciting opportunity to win fantastic prizes for themselves and their school or club.

This year’s competition has a new outdoor theme: we’re looking for bright ideas to assist easy access to woodland and forests for everyone, especially people with disabilities. And not only wheelchair users - sensory, learning or memory impairments can also affect a person’s experience and enjoyment of outdoor spaces in different and challenging ways.

As always, the competition is designed to encourage young people to think about disability, accessibility and inclusivity from an early age. It offers an ideal project for team building or classroom discussion, highlighting issues such as social integration, disability awareness and inclusive communities.

Fantastic prizes to be won!
The competition is divided into two age categories, 7-11 and 12-16, with a winner and runner-up in each age group. An outright winner is then chosen from the two age group winners.

The outright winner will receive for their school or club:
• £1,000 cash towards equipment or projects
• £300-worth of STAEDTLER art and crafts materials
• £100-worth of Penguin books
• One year school/club membership of the Woodland
Trust ‘Nature Detectives Club’

And for themselves:
• An overnight stay for four at a Holiday Inn in
London with a trip on the London Eye

Each of the two age category winners receives:
• A digital camera
• £50-worth of Penguin books
• VIP attendance at the competition awards, taking
place at the Mobility Roadshow 2011, East of England
Showground, Peterborough on Saturday 2nd July
• One year membership of the Woodland Trust ‘Nature
Detectives Club’

Plus there are two runner-up prizes of Penguin books

HOW YOU CAN ENTER
Entries can be from individuals or pairs and should be in the form of a drawing, painting or diagram (max A3 size) accompanied by descriptive text. Visit the Competition Ambassadors section where you’ll find inspiration from young disabled people.  For full details, including terms and conditions and the all-important Entry Form, click here.

Try to visit your local woodland (there are almost 14,000 across the UK) with family, friends or with your school or club, spend a fun few hours in the wood and think about all that you can see, do, touch, feel and smell while you’re there. Then consider those same activities from a different perspective: if you couldn’t kick or jump into the leaves without help, or get far into the woods because of mud or fallen trees, or hear the birdsong or the leaves rustling, or see the beauty of the trees through the seasons. What bright idea could you come up with that might help someone in that situation? There are all kinds of possibilities that could open up these experiences to people with disabilities, so that they can join in the fun too.

The Judging Panel, which includes actor David Proud and BBC Disability Correspondent Geoff Adams-Spink, will review the shortlisted entries in May. Winners and runners-up will be notified soon after, with the two age category winners invited to the competition awards at the Mobility Roadshow on Saturday 2nd July – National Young Disabled Persons’ Day – where the outright winner will be announced.

If you can’t visit woodland you’ll find inspiration on the VisitWoods website at www.visitwoods.org.uk, a new interactive website packed with lots of information and pictures.