Two young people win creative art competition to help tackle hate crime

Two young people have both won the 2023 Creative Arts Competition to help raise awareness of and challenge attitudes to hate crime.

The annual competition is run by the Basingstoke Hate Crime Awareness Group (BHCAG), inviting 8 to 19-year-olds to create an inspiring and educational entry on the theme of 'Respectful and Welcoming'. The young people were asked to think about what hate crime means to them when producing their creative poem, short piece of written work, drawing or video.

One of the winning entries was an inspiring poem entitled 'Everybody is Welcome’, written by Aoife. The second winning entry was a video created by Matteo, entitled 'Spread Love Not Hate' alongside a corresponding 'No Hate just Love' Poster. 

The children’s work has seen them presented with gift vouchers provided by the Basingstoke Hate Crime Working Group and t-shirts and wrist bands donated by the Spectrum Centre for Independent Living in Southampton. The award ceremony was led by the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr David Leeks and took place on Thursday 26 October at the Civic Offices. 

Graham Hatcher, Chair of BHCAG said: "Being a victim of hate crime can leave a person fearful, isolated and vulnerable. It can also severely undermine their sense of safety in their school, college and community. It impacts greatly on self-confidence and self-worth and can lead to depression, anxiety and, in extreme cases, suicide. This competition raises awareness of hate crime and the winning entries show incredible talent, giving us a real 'wow' moment and showing how the two young people enjoy the diversity of our world. Their family, friends and teachers must all be so incredibly proud of their work."

The Mayor said: "The competition provided a great opportunity to mark National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2023 and it was a pleasure to present the awards to the competition winners.”

For more information or to join BHCAG please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The overall aims of the Basingstoke Hate Crime Awareness Group are:

• To raise awareness of hate crime and hate incidents
• To increase confidence amongst victims to report hate crimes and hate incidents
• To increase reporting of hate crime
• To work with young people to educate and challenge attitudes and prejudices

One of the winning entries was an inspiring poem entitled 'Everybody is Welcome’, written by Aoife. The second winning entry was a video created by Matteo, entitled 'Spread Love Not Hate' alongside a corresponding 'No Hate just Love' poster.