Millie wins national award for ‘showing racism the red card’

Millie Snodin, a year seven student at Ivybridge Community College, has been presented with a prestigious award in the national ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ (SRtRC) competition.

Millie received her award at the ground of Premier League champions Manchester City from women’s first team players Isobel Christiansen and Emma Lipman.

The competition required entrants to use their creativity to produce a poster that ‘shows racism the red card’. Millie entered a poster that showed three pairs of hands under a thermal imaging camera, with the caption: ‘Spot the difference. We all glow the same inside’.

“I was so pleased when I found out – I couldn’t believe it,” said Millie. “The idea for my poster came to me in a moment of inspiration when I was messing around on Photo Booth on my iPad. There’s a thermal image setting and I realized that, regardless of the colour of your skin, we all glow the same inside.”

At the ceremony, Millie was presented with a personalised Manchester City shirt, and England shirt and a Manchester United shirt. She also received a pendant signed by all of the players from Plymouth Argyle, a ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ football and an A2 poster of her entry.

“The awards day at Manchester City was amazing,” added Millie. “I took my mum and dad with me and we got to meet professional players and walk out onto the pitch. It was a really inspirational day and showed that all people are special inside. I think we should all work together to eradicate racism in football and everywhere else.”

In her spare time Millie is extremely active and enjoys swimming, diving, dancing and playing hockey.

Helen Ryder, Head of Human Sciences at Ivybridge Community College, is responsible for the Year 7 programme on tackling racism, which culminated in every student producing a creative piece of work. Every Year 7 class voted for their favorite piece of work, then one final winner was chosen to represent the college.

“Discussing and tackling racism is a key aspect of Ivybridge Community College’s world issues lessons, preparing students for the broader issues that life can throw at them,” said Helen. “When we were presented with Millie’s work it clearly stood out as exceptional, not only because of the message that we are all the same inside, but also because Millie put it across in such a creative and visually stunning way. We’re tremendously proud of Millie and delighted that her piece did so well in the national competition.”

The award ceremony took place in Manchester City’s Citizens Suite and included category winners from throughout the UK. After arriving, Millie enjoyed entertainment including an exhibition of skills from Nike UK Football Freestyle Champion Abbas Farid.