VoiceBox 2025
What is VoiceBox?
VoiceBox is a national joke telling competition for primary school children developed by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), designed to raise awareness of the fun and importance of communication. This year’s competition is kindly supported by Collins Big Cat. It will offer schools across Scotland a light-hearted and inclusive way for pupils to develop their communication skills and build their confidence and self-esteem.
What will happen?
- We are inviting all primary schools in Scotland to nominate one joke from their school for the 2025 VoiceBox Competition by 1 April 2025.
- Schools can do this by supporting an individual pupil who wants to take part, or by holding a joke-telling competition in school to find their best entry.
- A responsible adult (parent/guardian or teacher) should send us your school’s nominated joke by 1 April 2025 (not an April Fools!) and our judging panel will shortlist up to 32 of the best jokes they receive – one finalist from each local authority area.
- Up to 32 finalists will be invited to the National Final in the Scottish Parliament on 5 June 2025 to tell their jokes in front of MSPs and a judging panel. All finalists attending the National Final will receive £100 worth of HarperCollins books and the pupils with the three best jokes will receive up to £100 to spend on toys as well as up to £500 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school.
Why take part in VoiceBox?
Communication is a fundamental skill. It has the most profound and positive impact on our lives and contributes to our social and emotional development, behaviour, learning and educational attainment. It also impacts on how we interact with other people, how we understand them and, in turn, how we are understood.
Improve pupils’ communication skills
Telling a joke is not only fun but also a highly advanced linguistic skill! It involves inference, strong receptive and expressive language, and good auditory memory. Pupils can practice intonation, conversational style, and non-verbal communication, while keeping listeners engaged and delivering the punchline effectively. Preparing for the competition encourages them to consider language, audience suitability, and delivery. Practicing at home can also engage their families in a fun way, and pupils can take part in judging or voting for your school’s nomination.
Perfect for pupils with additional support needs
VoiceBox is a great activity for a small group of pupils in your school who already receive additional support. Perhaps you have a supported reading group, a lunch club, or after school club for children with additional support needs. They might want to hold their own mini VoiceBox competition as part of their activities with help from their teachers or classroom assistants.
Got a question? Email us at voicebox@rcslt.org.
Online toolkit
Inside this toolkit you will find everything you need to participate in VoiceBox 2025.
Schools Pack
Links to templates contained within the school’s pack are also here for ease:
- A4 VoiceBox poster
- Letter to parents
- Letter to pupil council
- Letter to local councillors or MSP
- Participant certificate
Prizes
All VoiceBox entries into our national competition will be in with a chance to win some fantastic prizes!
Up to 32 finalists (one from each local authority area) will be invited to attend the National Final at the Scottish Parliament on 5 June 2025.
All finalists attending the National Final will receive £100 worth of HarperCollins books.
Additional prizes will be awarded to the top three finalists:
- the first place winner will receive a £100 toy gift card and £500 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school
- the second place winner will receive a £75 toy gift card and £200 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school
- the third place winner will receive a £50 toy gift card and £200 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school
About our sponsor
From early phonics development to fluency, Collins Big Cat is a whole-school programme that provides complete support for primary reading. They deliver effective phonics with fully decodable books, expertly aligned to Letter and Sounds and foster a love of reading with hundreds of levelled readers to support guided, independent and whole class reading.
Submit your joke
You will be able to submit your entry here from 20 January.
Please remember we can only accept one entry per school. If you are having any issues submitting an entry, please contact voicebox@rcslt.org
Terms and conditions
About
- The competition is organised by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and supported by Collins Big Cat.
Eligibility
- Entry to the competition is open to children enrolled in P1-P7 at a school in Scotland during the 2024/25 school year. Entries must be submitted by a responsible adult (parent/guardian or teacher) on behalf of the child. Entrants must be able to attend the National Final at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on 5 June 2025 in the event that they are selected as a finalist. The responsible adult will be asked to confirm the entrant’s availability upon submitting their entry.
Each entry must be the sole entry from the child’s school. This could be determined as the winner of a school competition if one is held, or a child who has been supported by their school to put themselves forward to take part. If a child would like to participate and their school has not nominated an entry, the child’s parent/guardian must contact the school about their intention to submit an entry and receive confirmation from the school that the child’s entry can be the sole entry from that school.When an entry is submitted by a third party (e.g. a teacher), prior to submitting the entry, on behalf of an entrant, the party submitting the entry shall be responsible for (i) obtaining parental consent (ii) providing a copy of the Rules to the parent/guardian to ensure the entrant’s compliance with the Rules. Evidence may be requested for consent, identity and eligibility.When an entry is submitted by a parent/guardian, the parent/guardian must confirm that their child’s entry is the sole entry from their school. Evidence may be requested from the child’s school to confirm their eligibility.
How to enter
- Entrants must come up with a joke (please ensure that its delivery does not exceed 2 minutes). Entry is via an online entry form. The responsible adult submitting the joke on behalf of the entrant will be asked to provide the entrant’s name, school year and school name and ensure that they have parental permission to do so. The joke can be submitted as a video or audio file, or as written text.
- A joke may be told or written in any language (e.g. Gaelic, BSL), but all jokes must also be submitted in English.
- Entrants telling their joke in a video or audio file must state their name, school year and school name at the start of the recording.
- Video and audio files sent to us will not be shared outside of RCSLT and only be used in order to judge entries, after which the files will be destroyed.
- Entries can only be accepted online.
- The adult submitting the entrant’s joke will be required to approve the entry and agree to these rules on behalf of the entrant, by way of a check box in the online form. The adult may be the child’s parent, guardian or teacher. The adult must provide their own contact and personal details (not the child’s). Teachers submitting jokes on behalf of pupils must seek parental permission and if requested by RCSLT, provide evidence of permission in the event of an enquiry or complaint. For the top 32 shortlisted entries, if permission to enter was given by a teacher, RCSLT will contact the teacher and ask for confirmation of permission from the entrant’s parent or guardian.
- Entry opens on Monday 20 January 2025 at 09:00 and closes on Tuesday 1 April 2025 at 23:59. Submissions received outside of this time frame will not be considered. RCSLT advises users not to wait until the last minute to submit entries. If submitters are experiencing technical failure or malfunction, they can contact voicebox@rcslt.org for support up until 28 March 2024 at 17:00. If the submitter is experiencing issues between 28 March 2024 at 17:00 and Tuesday 1 April 2024 at 23:59, they are directed to email the above address indicating their intent to submit and this will be confirmation of submission within the correct timeframe, on the condition that all details are provided in subsequent email replies.
- Entrants can only enter individually. Only one entry per person is permitted. If more than one entry is submitted, only the entrant’s first submission will be considered.
- Jokes submitted must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material; RCSLT reserves the right to disqualify entries containing such matter. Entries must be suitable to be told at the National Final in the Scottish Parliament, as well as broadcast or published by the media, for audiences of all ages, but in particular for a child audience.
Judging criteria
- Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Originality
- Composition
- Timing
- Enjoyment
Finalist round
- All entries received will be divided into groups based on the local authority area in which the entrant’s school is based. Each group will then be judged by RCSLT Scotland staff, using score cards based on the judging criteria.
- The highest scoring entrant in each local authority area in Scotland will be invited to tell their joke at the National Final in the Scottish Parliament, up to 32 finalists in total.
National Final round
- Up to 32 finalists will tell their jokes at the National Final in the Scottish Parliament in front of a guest judging panel, including the Presiding Officer. Three finalists, with one overall winner, will be selected.
Prizes
- Up to 32 finalists (one from each local authority area) will be invited to attend the National Final at the Scottish Parliament on 5 June 2025. Each finalist will be able to bring one parent/guardian or their teacher to accompany them. We will request parental permission for pictures and/or videos of the finalists for use in the promotion of, during and following the National Final.
- All finalists attending the National Final will receive £100 worth of HarperCollins books.
- Additional prizes will be awarded to the top three finalists: the first place winner will receive a £100 toy gift card and £500 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school, the second place winner will receive a £75 toy gift card and £200 worth of Collins Big Cat books for their school, and the third place winner will receive a £50 toy gift card and £200 worth of Collins Big Cat books.
General
- The responsible adults of the successful finalists will be contacted by 22 April 2025; further proof of identity and eligibility may be requested at this stage.
- RCSLT will be able to assist with travel costs for each finalist and their accompanying parent/guardian or teacher to the National Final in Edinburgh.
- RCSLT’s decision at each stage of this competition, the finalist round and National Final round, is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
- RCSLT reserves the right to (i) amend these rules or cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control, (ii) disqualify any entrant or winner who breaches these rules.
- The parent/guardian of an entrant is deemed to have accepted these rules when giving permission to the entry of the relevant entrant.
- If any of these clauses should be determined to be illegal, invalid, or otherwise unenforceable then it shall be severed and deleted from these rules and the remaining clauses shall survive, remain in full force and effect.
- RCSLT reserves the right to terminate and revoke the prize if these rules are not adhered to.
- The competition is run by RCSLT. Please see our privacy notice for further information about how we use any personal data collected as part of the competition.
Privacy statement
Introduction
This page is our Privacy Notice for the VoiceBox Scotland competition. It has been written specifically to inform parents and guardians why the collection of the personal data of their child is necessary as part of their competition entry and how we plan to use, store and protect your child’s data once we have it.
Who we are
We’re the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), the professional body for speech and language therapists in the UK. Our mission is to enable better lives for children and adults with communication needs.
Please visit our main website for further information about us and the work we do.
What is personal data?
Personal data is any information that could be used to identify a living person. At its simplest this could be just a name and address; or, it could include a telephone number, email address, a picture or recording.
Why do you need my child’s personal data?
Your child’s personal data will only be used for their entry to the competition. As we only allow one entry per child, this ensures that we can keep track of everyone who has entered, then administer and judge the competition fairly.
Can you use personal data for anything?
No. We will only use your child’s personal data for the reasons we have mentioned above and only for the duration of the competition entry process. We never pass this data to third parties or use it for reasons we have not told you about.
Can anyone else see my personal data?
The only people who will have access to your child’s personal data are the small group of RCSLT staff based in our Scotland Office. If you would like to speak to the team, please contact us. The judging panel will be shown entry videos or audio submissions during a dedicated meeting but will not be given copies of your child’s data.
Do you keep my personal data forever?
We only keep your personal data for as long as we need it to run the competition. Unsuccessful applications will be permanently deleted after the competition shortlisting has been completed. Applications of entrants who are shortlisted for the final will be kept until the event has taken place, after which these will be deleted too.
Do I have a say in what happens to my child’s personal data?
Yes, you do. Everyone has rights in relation to their personal data can be used. This includes the right to withdraw consent at any time.
The Information Commissioners Office provides summary of these individual rights and how they can be enacted. We also provide further information and contact details in our main Privacy Notice should you wish to enact any of these rights or withdraw consent.
Who makes sure you follow all the rules?
All of our staff receive training on data protection and the RCSLT also has an appointed Data Protection Officer, to ensure that our staff do everything necessary to keep your data safe. You are welcome to contact us if you would like to speak to us about any of the information in this notice.
If you are unhappy with the information we have provided, you may contact the body who is responsible for overseeing data protection in the UK, the Information Commissioners Office.
Contact us
For any competition related enquiries, please email us at voicebox@rcslt.org.
For any media enquiries, please email craig.ritchie@morrison-media.co.uk
or erin.lindsay@morrison-media.co.uk.
VoiceBox 2024
VoiceBox 2024 was a huge success! 1000’s of children participated in schools across Scotland, and we had 28 finalists from 26 local authorities who gathered at the Scottish Parliament on 6 June for the National Final.
The event was filled with laughter and served as a powerful way to raise awareness about the crucial role of communication and the impactful work of speech and language therapists in improving lives and outcomes.
At the 2024 final, we celebrated four winners (1st, 2nd, and two tied for 3rd place). Each winner received individual prizes of up to £100, as well as up to £500 of books for their school. Every participant left with a goodie bag packed with treats!
The Presiding Officer sponsored the event and even asked, “Can we do this every week?”
Comedian, Zara Janjua expertly compered the event bringing fun and humour to the day
Magician, Tricky Ricky put on a great show for the finalists, getting them in good spirits to wow the judges with their jokes!
2024 Winners
1st place – Gordon – Cockenzie Primary School, East Lothian
“Why did the donkey go to the shops?
Because he had Hee Haw in the hoose!”
2nd place: Zara – Newport Primary School, Fife
“Why doesn’t Elsa from Frozen get a balloon?
She’ll let it go! She’ll let it go!”
Joint 3rd place: Ismail – Newarthill Primary School, North Lanarkshire
“My sister asked me to pass her lipstick, but I accidentally gave her glue stick… she still isn’t talking to me!”
Joint 3rd place: Gregor – Lincluden Primary school, Dumfries & Galloway
“Why did the banana go to the doctor?
Because he wasn’t ‘peeling’ well!”
For more details and event highlights, check out the following articles and images:
