The INTO LGBT+ Teachers’ Group are excited to announce the return of the ‘Different Families, Same Love’ Competition; a home-based competition for primary school children and their families.

The competition invites children and their families to get creative at home while celebrating the diversity of all peoples and families in our communities. Competition entries like our families can take many forms, therefore your child/family can choose to enter by creating an art piece, write a story, record a video or song… the possibilities are endless!

This annual competition has been running since 2016 but given the current school closures, the format has been amended to allow pupils to participate and on their own or with their siblings.

Cecelia Gavigan, from the INTO LGBT+ Teachers’ Group said,

“This year, we are changing things up and inviting all of the primary school children who are learning at home to get creative, send their work into us and possibly win some fantastic toy shop vouchers generously provided by Smyths Toys Superstore as well as fabulous sets of children’s books for their schools.”

The competition which recently won the Event of the Year Award at the 2020 GALAS National LGBT+ Federation Awards was originally launched four years ago to promote LGBT+ inclusion in primary schools, and to celebrate diverse tapestry of families who make up our communities.

“We want children to explore the diversity of Ireland’s families at home using the resources available on the competition website. We would like to see entries celebrating all sorts of families; those from different ethnicities and religions, families who speak multiple languages, members of the Travelling and Roma community, families with members who have disabilities, adoptive and foster families, same-sex headed families, families with members of various gender identities, grandparent/aunt/uncle headed families, and so on,” continued Sean Hegarty from the group.

Children are invited to enter the Different Families, Same Love competition under one of three categories:

• Individual Junior (Junior infants to 2nd class)
• Individual Senior (3rd Class to 6th Class)
• Family (entries from multiple children in the family working together)

Entries will be judged on creativity, originality, relevance to the Different Families, Same Love theme and how well the learning was shared with wider audiences.

Get creative and get your entries in by Friday, May 22, 2020. Full competition details available under ‘Different Families, Same Love’ on www.into.ie/lgbt or through this competition link.