Calling all budding adventurers, we’re here to make your dreams come true! Well, sort of. It’s a well known fact that the largest barrier to hop-skipping off on adventures is often (but not always) spondoolies. Wonga, moola, booty, dollar – whatever you want to call it, its ability to evaporate into thin air just as adventure calls knows no bounds.
Last year, Explorer extraordinaire and man-with-a-plan Tim Moss of The Next Challenge came up with a way to bring the existing adventure community together in a bid to help people get their adventure plans off the ground. This year, I’m stoked to be one of the adventurers who’s thrown into the pot to create The Next Challenge Grant.
You can read all about the grant below – which offers awards of between £100 and £1000 for original, independent microadventures and expeditions
Better still, you can also support it by donating £3 yourself. The application process is short, you don’t need any experience – just an original idea and a willingness to do something physically exerting.
EXAMPLES OF WINNING ENTRIES
To get your creative juices flowing, here’s a few examples of last year’s winners – who were a mix of all ages, from all countries around the globe:
- Richard Fairbrother: Set out to walk a remote part of the Great Wall of China.
- Michael Bartley: Scaled Alp D’huez on a fixed gear bike
- George and Jaxson: Crossed the remote Australian Stradbroke Island on foot
- Ben Smith & Judith Pope – Pakrafted the Caledonian Canal
- Robinson Ellin – Cycled to Holland and back in 48 hours
- Abbie Barnes – Spent a year walking all the UK National Trails
- Sebastian Schweizer – Swam the Gulf of Orosei
- Carmen Braun and Alex Tamo – Spent 100 Nights’ Camping in Canada
- Elise Downing – Running the Coast of Great Britain
2015 winner, Abbie Barnes – Spent a year walking all the UK trails
THE GRANT
If you have an idea for an adventure then you can apply now for up to £1,000 from The Next Challenge Grant. Deadline June 10th – www.thenextchallenge.org/grant
BACKGROUND TO THE GRANT
The grant was started last year by Tim Moss who decided to give away all of the advertising revenue he’d made from his website, The Next Challenge.
He then invited 100 members of the public to match his £200 offer with £2 donations of their own. They did.
Following that, seven other ‘adventurers’ spontaneously offered to chip in some of their own money too. In the end, we had over £1,600.
1,300 people applied for grants. 50 of them made the shortlist and 10 won awards. The winners ranged from a 14 year old Australian walking across a desert island with his dad as support, to a Canadian student spending 100 nights sleeping outside. And from a young woman attempting to walk the length of every National Trail in Britain to another trying to run 5,000 miles around its coast.
This year we have ten adventurers backing the grant with special pots of money for cycling trips, environmentally conscious expeditions and adventure film making. 50 members of the public have contributed so far too bringing the total to almost £2,000.
2015 Winner Robinson Ellin: Cycled to the Anne Frank house in Holland and back in 48 hours to inspire his students
APPLYING FOR THE GRANT
You do not need any experience to apply and there are no restrictions on who is eligible. You just have to be doing something original that involves a bit of physical exertion and that you are organising yourself (i.e. not paying someone else). Original ideas and interesting stories are more important than breaking records.
Applications are through a very short online form. The deadline for applications is Friday June 10th. Apply online now at: http://www.thenextchallenge.org/grant
DONATING TO THE GRANT
50 people have each donated £3 to the grant so far. If you’d like to contribute too then you can do so directly on PayPal: http://bit.ly/2016grant (you don’t need an account, just click ‘Continue’ above the Visa icon) or you can read a little more about it here first:http://thenextchallenge.org/donate-3-adventure/
LINKS
- Apply now at: http://www.thenextchallenge.org/grant
- Donate £3 through PayPal: http://bit.ly/2016grant
- You can read more about the background to grant here: http://thenextchallenge.org/giving-away-advertising-revenue/
- Meet the winners of the 2015 Next Challenge Grant here: http://thenextchallenge.org/meet-2015-grant-winners/
Get on it. And good luck!
McNuff out xx
2015 grant winner Richard Fairbrother: Walked a seldom visited section of the Great Wall of China
