Judges closing in on International Walk To School winner

The on-going process of picking a project to receive the first International Walk To School Award has unearthed some innovative ideas for sustainable Walk to School projects, according to Robert Smith, who is chair of the International Walk To School Award jury.

"The regular reward style, pester-power, incentive schemes seem to be showing some positive results in terms of sustained modal shift", says Robert Smith, who is also Dorset County Council's road safety and sustainable school travel team leader.

A shortlist of six projects has been chosen and the international jury now has the difficult task of picking an overall winner.

"Programme goals, innovation, outstanding achievement, replicability and sustainability are the key criteria being used to assess each project," Robert Smith explains. "At the end of the process we will have a number of excellent international case studies that will reflect best practice. We will share these projects with colleagues across the globe via the IWALK website, http://www.iwalktoschool.org.

The award winner is due to be announced on 7 April and the award will be presented at the Walk21 conference in Copenhagen in June 2004.

For further information contact Robert Smith, chair, International Walk To School Committee, r.smith@dorsetcc.gov.uk.