Debenham High School receives Dora Love Prize

Inspirational students from Debenham High School received the Dora Love Prize from the UK's national academic lead for the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater (GRTSB) pledge Professor Margaret Greenfields.

Professor Greenfields from Anglia Ruskin University presented the cheque to the winning team for their work to educate about, demystify and promote Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history and culture within their community and Suffolk.

The GTRSB Schools’ Pledge consists of a firm commitment to take steps to support access, retention and outcomes in education for GTRSB pupils. Following the advocacy of Debenham's Dora Love Prize students as part of their project, Debenham High School has become the first school in Suffolk to sign the pledge and is now encouraging other schools to sign up, too.

The Dora Love Prize is a citizenship prize that takes its cue from the Holocaust, and it is for Year 8 to Year 10 students who ideally have covered the Holocaust either before or while they are working on their Dora Love Prize project.

This year’s projects ranged from workshops in primary schools, thought-provoking assemblies and community days to podcasts, films, art displays, websites and social media campaigns, with many projects involving multiple activities.

Professor Rainer Schulze, the founder and coordinator of the Prize, said: “Our judges had the difficult task to determine the winner, and in the end they awarded the Dora Love Prize 2023 to the group from Debenham High School for their project which included a wide range of activities to educate about, celebrate and demystify Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, linking the Dora Love Prize very effectively with the fact that June is GRT History Month in the UK.”

Debenham High School was unable to attend the Dora Love Prize event held at the University of Essex in June so Professor Schulze organised a special event at The Hold in Ipswich to give the team the opportunity to present their project and explain why they chose this topic for their project.

Other Suffolk schools involved in the Dora Love Prize were invited to the event including Northgate High School who have participated in the Dora Love Prize every year since it was set up.

This is the 11th year of the Dora Love Prize, and it was a record year for entries with 30 schools mostly from across Essex and Suffolk taking part in the induction day and 19 taking part in the prize evening on 22 June when the young people presented their projects. The event has an international dimension thanks to the participation (through a video submission) of Collingwood School in West Vancouver, Canada.

• Read more about the Dora Love Prize