Scottish students produce 'The Wee Issue'

Thursday 18th of March 2010

A team of 13-17 year old Scottish school kids have spent more than six months working with The Big Issue in Scotland to produce The 'Wee' Issue, a magazine which will be published next week, and distributed in Scottish schools from March 24. Every single secondary school pupil in Scotland will receive a copy – putting the print run at around 305,000 copies, all to be given out free.

It’s been a mammoth undertaking driven by The Big Issue in Scotland, The Big Lottery and Learning and Teaching Scotland. It’s a great little magazine. The young team have come up with all the ideas, have written all the words and worked on the design. The Big Issue in Scotland team helped realise the ideas.

In the magazine there’s an interview with Paolo Nutini – we flew a snapper and young journalist to Dublin for that. A couple of the Wee Issue interviewers went to Holyrood to quiz Scottish education secretary Mike Russell about his plans for education. They then made him answer some prelim exam questions. His responses were an embarrassment. There is a fantastic investigation into youth homelessness. There are interviews with the cast of Skins. Interviews with Paramore and with the woman tipped as the next Stephanie Meyer. And Kevin McKidd has delivered a 10 point plan to becoming a Hollywood actor. There are also massive comps and giveaways and a load of other things that they are all getting excited about.

“It’s been a great project,” said The Big Issue in Scotland editor Paul McNamee. “The idea was simple – a version of The Big Issue created by Scottish secondary school pupils to be delivered to every single Scottish secondary school pupil. The teens involved have been brilliant. There has been a fearlessness in their approach and interviewing style and an invention in their ideas that has really impressed. They’ve worked hard to make an excellent magazine. It says much about the enduring popularity of newsprint that they embraced the magazine idea so readily. I hope their peers enjoy the efforts.

“And I also hope The Wee Issue proves the springboard for similar Big Issue-related school projects in future that will spread outside of Scotland.”

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Director, Dharmendra Kanani said: “Peer groups are perhaps the single most important factor in bringing about social change in the world we live and by entering into this partnership we are broadening our message for social change to include all ages. The Big Lottery Fund believes that young people should have the power to influence the world around them, and in the past our £25 million Young Peoples Fund did just that, putting the ideas and visions of young people first. Through the Wee Issue we continue to give the next generation the chance to have their say on the issues that matter most to them. To put together a magazine like this is a fantastic opportunity which I hope will leave a lasting impression both for the writers and for the thousands readers across Scotland.”