Bullying UK Wins TalkTalk Innovation In The Community Awards

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 17 Nov 2008 - 0:00 PST

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Bullying UK, a charity which works to tackle bullying all over the UK, has received a TalkTalk Innovation in the Community Award for its innovative poster project which has saved schools more than £34,000 over the last year.

On the eve of Anti-Bullying Week (November 17-21) the charity will receive a grant of £2,000 to help expand its ground breaking project Click, Create and Print in new directions. The project uses cutting edge mobile technology called QR codes combined with an online poster creator.

The website www.bullying.co.uk/poster allows any young person to make their own anti-bullying poster. On each poster are two special codes. When snapped with a mobile phone camera they allow the user to access a digital copy of the poster that can then be shared with other young people via MMS or Bluetooth. A second code allows access to the charity's mobile advice site www.bullying.co.uk.

The project was funded with donations from the family and friends of Ben Vodden, the 11-year-old Sussex schoolboy who killed himself after bullying on the school bus in 2006. So far, more than 10,000 unique posters with a tribute to Ben have been created by schools all over the UK.

John Carnell, founder and CEO of Harrogate-based Bullying UK said: "We are proud to be recognised by TalkTalk as one of the UK's most innovative charities. Eighteen months ago we identified QR codes as being key to the uptake of the mobile web and the filling in of another bit of the digital divide. Even if people are in a rush they can snap the code from the poster with their phone and get immediate help from our mobile website."

Charity director Liz Carnell said: "Bullying UK has always been at the cutting edge of charity work but even we were surprised how far ahead of even the biggest names in business Click, Create and Print is. In recent days the announcement of a popular soft drinks firm adding QR to 400 million cola cans is sure to drive uptake and awareness of our service as people become aware of this powerful technology".

About Bullying UK & Click Create and Print

-- Bullying UK is the new name for the multi award winning Yorkshire based national charity Bullying Online, now entering our 10th year 1999 - 2009.

-- Click Create and Print was initially funded from donations collected in memory of Ben Vodden who commited sucide due to bullying at the age of 11.

-- QR technology is huge in Japan and is incorporated into many areas of their work and play, it is seen as the primary reason more Japanese citizens access the internet via a mobile phone than a traditional computer.

-- Pepsi recently announced a marketing campaign that will see 400 million QR codes added to soft drinks cans and marketing material, this is unrelated to our work but highlights how important QR is moving forward.

-- Bullying UK at www.bullying.co.uk is the top destination for anyone who searches the word "bullying" on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. More than 500,000 people visit the website each year.

www.bullying.co.uk