A 17-year-old pupil at a Woodford Green school has been shortlisted for an Amnesty International UK award for his reporting for the second year running after highlighting a toxic waste scandal.
Charlie Blake, a student at Bancroft’s School in High Road, has been placed in the top three for sixth-form journalism after writing about the dumping of waste in the sea off the Ivory Coast.
He first read about the issue on the website of human rights charity Amnesty.
He finished in the top 10 last year for a piece on the forcible eviction of islanders from a tiny British colony in the Indian Ocean.
Charlie said: “The competition has really developed my perspective on global human rights issues and I feel privileged that Amnesty has given me a chance to voice my opinions”
The competition, run with the Guardian Teacher Network and the secondary school magazine SecEd, attracts over 2,500 entries from more than 200 schools across the UK.
The young writer will now attend a ceremony at the charity’s headquarters in central London on April 30 to learn if he has been picked as the overall winner.
His English teacher Kevin Gallagher said Charlie has an “acute awareness of current affairs”.
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