During the summer of 2022, the West Midlands are set to host the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. It is incredibly exciting for the area and as ‘Midlanders’ we are super excited to watch it and get involved. It will shine a light on the West Midlands and will no doubt bring incredible opportunities into the region. As with any major games, there is always an official mascot and that’s where our children come in. Mascot Makers are wanted!
Birmingham 2022 want our children to create and design the official mascot to represent the games. Launching today, mascot makers are being asked to submit their designs into the competition which could see their design being used as the official mascot of Birmingham 2022. Wow!
The mascot will play a leading role in fulfilling Birmingham 2022’s mission to bring people together, improve health and wellbeing, help the region to grow and succeed, be a catalyst for change, and place the region on the global stage’. How exciting is that! What an opportunity!
The world’s first ‘Virtual Mascot Summit’
This weekend, our son Olly, took part in the world’s first ‘Virtual Mascot Summit’ hosted by President of Commonwealth Games England and former Olympic heptathlete Denise Lewis OBE, alongside TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya.
As an official Mascot Maker at the summit, Olly had the opportunity to take part in various tasks to develop what the mascot could look like, as well as what its characteristics, values and movements should be. It was a fantastic event and some of the ideas submitted by the children involved in the summit were absolutely incredible. They were really creative and had so much enthusiasm for the competition, it was lovely to watch. Olly was so excited to take part and cannot wait to tell everyone he was part of it.
Check out the video below of what the children got up to throughout the summit;
The Virtual Mascot Summit was supported by elite athletes including three-time British all-around medallist Mimi-Isabella Cesar, sprinter and para-athlete Katrina Hart, Team England basketball player Kofi Josephs and Commonwealth champion gymnast Dom Cunningham.
Who can be a mascot maker?
Children aged five to 15 from across the country are being challenged to create their own Birmingham 2022 mascot which reflects the identity, heritage, and culture of the West Midlands, and embodies everything the region stands for: youthfulness, diversity, dynamism and creativity.
The entries that best reflect these attributes will inspire the official Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games mascot, which will be seen by over one billion people, and will become an iconic symbol for the region in the run up to and during the Games.
How to get involved?
Designs can be drawings, paintings or collages. They can be entered into the competition by visiting Birmingham2022.com/Mascot and the competition closes on Wednesday 5th August. The best entries from three age categories will win tickets to the Commonwealth Games’ spectacular opening ceremony.
Entries will be judged by a panel that includes Team England athletes Sarah-Jane Perry (squash), Katrina Hart (athletics) and Sarah Davies (weightlifting). The winning design will be brought to life by including the key personality traits and values that come from the Virtual Mascot Summit and will be used to create the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games’ official mascot, which will be revealed later this year.
Olly can’t wait to submit his design for the mascot and we cannot wait to find out the final design. Good luck everyone!
Disclosure: We were invited to take part in the Virtual Summit but were not paid to take part or publish this post.
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