The Parliament Prize 2024

Each year, the Parliament of Victoria asks students across the state, from Grade 5 to Year 12, to share what you would say to parliament if you were an MP. This is a chance to talk about the issues that are important to you and your community. Record your own 90-second Member’s Statement video and you could win prizes, for you and your school!

Each day that Parliament meets, a Member of Parliament (MP) has an opportunity to make a 90-second speech on any topic or issue they consider to be important. This is called a Member’s Statement. One of the great things about Members' Statements is the range of topics and issues that MPs speak about. They might talk about the achievements of people or organisations in their electorate, challenges being faced in their local community, or perhaps broader state or national issues. You can see what MPs speak about during Members’ Statements by looking at Hansard, which is the record of what is said in Parliament.

A prize of $500 and a commemorative trophy will be awarded to the first-placed entry in each category.

There will also be prizes of $250 to the second-placed entries and $125 to the third-placed entries in each age group.

An award of $1,000 will be made to each first-placed student's school, which will ideally be used to promote civics and citizenship and law-related education within these schools, at the schools’ discretion.

To help prepare your entry for the Parliament Prize, we've put together a number of short student guides full of handy hints. Each guide focuses on a different phase of developing an entry, so you can easily find what you need at whatever point you might need it.

Teachers will also find notes with additional information and ideas for classroom activities.

• The competition is open to Victorian students in three year-group categories: Grades 5-6, Years 7-9, and Years 10-12.
• Videos must not contain any copyrighted or offensive material, and must be the student’s own work.
• Videos must not exceed 90 seconds.
• Entries must be submitted via the online form.
• Only one entry per student will be accepted.
• Entries are due by 5pm, Friday 14 June 2024.
• Late entries will not be considered.
• Full terms and conditions are provided on the entry page. 

The judges will look for entries that demonstrate: 

• A clearly articulated message
• Interesting insights, ideas and/or perspectives
• A clear understanding of why this issue or idea is important

A shortlist of entries will be compiled by parliament staff. Finalists will be selected by three separate panels, one for each category. These panels will include Members of Parliament, parliament staff and representatives from parliament’s Education Advisory Panel. Due to the large number of entries, we are unable to provide feedback.

Each year winners will announced via the Victorian parliament’s website and social media. They will be presented with their prizes in a special ceremony at Parliament House on a date to be advised. All finalists' entries will be uploaded to the Parliament of Victoria’s website and social media pages, and by submitting an entry, students give permission for this to occur. Confirmation of this permission will be sought prior to posting.

The Parliament of Victoria is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information that we handle. By adopting the Privacy Principles as outlined in the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014, we commit to the following:

• Only collecting information that we need for a specific primary purpose
• Ensuring that the person knows why we collect it and how we will handle it
• Using and disclosing it only for the primary or directly related purpose, or for another purpose with the person's consent
• Storing it securely, protecting it from unauthorised access and retaining it for the period authorised by the Public Records Act 1973
• Restricting access to video entries to members of the judging panel and parliament staff who administer the competition
• Providing individuals with access to their own information and the right to seek its correction.

A range of content is available that you are welcome to share through your own social channels, websites, emails and newsletters. On our 'Spread the word' page you'll find template social posts, stories, graphics and a poster.