23 Jul 2026 4 min read Culture

Scotland's young reporters tackling climate challenges

From fast fashion to waste, meet Scotland's young environmental reporters who are using storytelling to inspire action.

"WE'VE got an amazing country, and we can’t take it for granted.” These words, shared by Barry Fisher, chief executive of environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, captured the spirit of the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) Awards.

Part of an international programme coordinated by the Foundation for Environmental Education and delivered in 37 countries, YRE gives young people aged 8 to 25 a platform to explore and communicate the environmental issues shaping their lives.

Keep Scotland Beautiful runs the YRE programme, and this year’s awards ceremony, hosted at DC Thomson’s headquarters in Dundee on June 9, brought together some of Scotland’s most passionate young storytellers.

Barry Fisher, chief executive of environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

“Young people want to speak about the things that matter to them at a very local level,” Barry explains. “They also relate those issues to some of the bigger national and international challenges around the environment.

"What I got was a real sense of positivity from the young people who just want to make things better.”

From compelling written articles to creative photography and short-form videos, the competition showcased a diverse range of entries, all united by a shared goal: raising awareness and inspiring action.

For many of the winners, that journey begins with something close to home, like Callan Mitchell, who examined the environmental cost of Pokémon card production and garnered second place in the 15 -18 written article category.

Callan Mitchell (L) with DC Thomson journalist and competition judge Joanna Bremner (R).

“I love Pokémon and collecting cards,” he says. “I didn’t know how the cards were made or what happened to them after being discarded. I found the true cost of it when putting my project together.”

That sense of responsibility was a recurring theme.

“I grew up going to charity shops,” Ellie Lawrence, whose piece on fast fashion earned her second place in her age range, says.

“I believe we can live the rest of humanity without making any more clothes, because we already have so much waste in the world.”

The awards ceremony for Scotland took place at DC Thomson's headquarters in Dundee.

Although the main aim of the young reporters is to drive change, they recognised that engagement remains a challenge.

“In Scotland we don’t feel connected to the issues, so we don’t feel the impact,” Ellie adds.

This tension between global crisis and local reality is something Barry believes the YRE programme is uniquely placed to address and that by encouraging young people to start with issues on their doorstep, the initiative creates an entry point into wider environmental conversations.

The result is a generation of storytellers who are not just reporting on environmental issues, but actively reshaping how they’re understood.

Meet the winners

One young Scottish entrant had an even bigger cause for celebration.

Amellie McKay, winner of the "written article" category for 11-14 year-olds, additionally scooped up the prize in her age group for the YRE International competition, which looks at thousands of entries from over 37 countries across categories, too.