Share your ‘Memories of 25’ and win prizes!

Sporting Memories has opened a creative competition for young people aged between 4-25 to share their memories from this year’s International Island Games held on Orkney. 

Whether it be a short written piece, a drawing, illustration or artwork, or sharing some photos or videos of your experience watching or participating in the Games – this is your chance to express what the Games meant to you – and there is a chance to win some prizes too across four age categories!

Age Categories

We have five age categories for the ‘Memories of 25’ competition, with each age category having three prize winners for the best entries, decided by judges in early 2026. These age categories are: 

• Primary School - P1 to P3
• Primary School - P4 to P5
• Primary School - P6 to P7
• Secondary School - Ages 11 to 16 
• And Young Adults (post Secondary School) - Ages 16 to 25

What to include in your entry

We’re looking for young people to share their memories of the Orkney 2025 International Island Games in their own unique and creative way - but the key is to show the memory which means the most and why that is.

For primary school students we’re asking them to draw or illustrate their memory and contribute a short written piece, and for secondary school students and young adults, we’re asking them to potentially share their photographs from the Island Games as well. 

Below is all the entry requirements: 

Primary School students in P1 to P3

• Drawn artwork (picture or painting) of Orkney ’25 with a short, written description of the artwork (up to 20 words)

Primary School students in P4 or P5

• Drawn artwork (picture or painting) of Orkney ’25 with a short, written description of the artwork (up to 50 words)

Primary School students in P6 or P7

• Drawn artwork (picture or painting) of Orkney ’25 with a short, written description of the artwork (up to 75 words)

Secondary School students

• Drawn artwork or Photograph of Orkney ’25 (with up to 50 words narrative detailing the artwork/photo) or an extended written contribution of up to 200 words of a memory of Orkney ’25 

Young Adults (post-Secondary School) 16-25 

• Drawn artwork or Photograph of Orkney ’25 (with up to 50 words narrative detailing the artwork/photo) or an extended written contribution of up to 400 words of a memory of Orkney ’25

Prizes

We’re offering prizes for some of the best entries and we’re also going to acknowledge all entries into the competition from individuals and schools. These include:

Primary School 

Each of the three Primary School categories will be offered the following prizes:

• Three prize-winning entries to receive Kirkwall BID vouchers between £50 - £15
• Three prize-winning entries to receive a competition t-shirt
• Goody bag of small items
• Certificate for Primary School entries showing their students contribution to campaign
• All entries to receive a (digital) certificate

Ages 11 to 25

Each of the two categories for these age groups will be offered the following prizes:

• Three prize-winning entries to receive Love2Shop vouchers between £100 - £25
• Three prize-winning entries to receive a competition t-shirt
• Certificate for Secondary School entries showing their students contribution to campaign
• All entries to receive a (digital) certificate
• All entries to receive 150 Young Scot awards points

How to Enter

Via Email

Entries should be sent via email to orkney25@sportingmemories.uk

All artwork/text entries should be scanned / captured digitally then sent to the email address as either an attachment or a downloadable link. 

In the email, please also include the name of the entrant, age, and submitted by which school/college if appropriate.

We recommend for large files (over 15MB) to send via WeTransfer - a website which allows large files to be sent via a secure email link for Sporting Memories to download.

Via Post - for School entries only

Whilst we would prefer digital entries, we will accept the physical sending of entries from Primary and Secondary schools to the following address:

FAO Catherine Johnson – Sporting Memories Competition
Active Schools Coordinator
Orkney Islands Council
School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney, KW15 1NY

Deadline for Entries 

All entries must be submitted by Sunday 30 November. 

Terms and Conditions

All entries submitted agree that details (such as names, ages of entrants) included have granted permission to be shared publicly (by individuals involved and or parents/guardians) and displayed by Sporting Memories at our proposed exhibition in 2026. 

Sporting Memories, and our media partners for the competition The Orcadian, will have the rights to publish and display content which is entered into the competition, including names and ages of those who have shared content.

Further Terms and Conditions of entries include: 

1. Entries will be accepted by anyone who has a connection with the International Island Games as a participant, supporter, volunteer or simply experienced the event.
2. Entries will be checked by Sporting Memories and only valid submissions will be entered into the prize draw.
3. Young Scot Reward points will only be awarded for valid submissions in the Secondary School and Young Adults categories (ages 11 to 25).

What Happens Next?

All entries will be then viewed by our judging panel, with the shortlisting results for each category revealed in early 2026. All eligible entries will receive an email confirming their entry status once the judging panel have made their decision.

All entries will also be displayed and stored permanently on the Replay Memories website here – as well as on the Replay Memories app – available on App Store and Google Play, which can be downloaded for free.