We are pleased to launch our annual competition for primary and secondary schools: The Malcolm Doolin Award for Local History Research 1914-1918. Please share with any schools or teachers you know. We also welcome members who are keen researchers and who would like to be linked with a school to give them some support.
About the project
- An annual year long project – starts 1 September 2025, closes 12 June 2026
- Open to primary and secondary schools
- 2 x £500 awards (one for 5-11 year olds, one for 11-16 year olds) plus runner up awards
- Publication and publicity through the Western Front Association’s magazine, website and social media
- Commemorative certificates awarded to all participating schools
- Winners invited to attend the WFA Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on 11 November 2026
Your research can be into anything that is local to your group and relates to the period of World War One - 1914-1918/9. War memorials or Commonwealth War Graves Commission graves in local cemeteries are an obvious choice but it could be about life on the Homefront: schools, industry and war work, entertainment, who lived in my house etc.
Work has to culminate in a final outcome which could be a display, performance, booklet, video etc. It has to be shared with people not involved in the research: perhaps through an assembly, an event for parents or through the school website.
Previous entries have been completed by whole classes or by groups of students including history clubs.
We are looking for:
- Originality: something that extends knowledge
- Pupils working together
- Where possible, partnership working – schools working together or with local museums, churches, local history societies, The Western Front Association etc
- An outcome – a publication, display or performance – that has been shared with a wider audience
Support from the Western Front Association
Participants are welcome to discuss their plans with the Education Trustee education@westernfrontassociation.com at any stage
On request we will match you with a Western Front Association member who can offer research advice/mentorship to teachers – where possible this would be a member from the school’s local branch but it may be an experienced researcher from elsewhere in the country. They may help you find useful resources for your research (including giving you access to special Western Front Association resources). They may even be able to suggest a topic for your research – for example, they may know about barracks or a factory or in your area that did war work, or there may be an event like an air raid that happened in your town. N.B. This support will be online or by telephone. We are unable to offer on-site support in schools.
Schools may be invited to do a presentation to their local WFA branch giving them the invaluable experience of speaking to an external audience.
Getting Started - Registration
Download and complete the registration form:
You should register your interest in participating in this project as soon as you have decided to take part. That way we can keep you updated as additional resources or opportunities that become available. Remember you can request that you are partnered with a Western Front Association researcher if you wish.
Please send it to: education@westernfrontassociation.com
Submitting Your Entry at the End of the Project
- Basic Information Required
- Name of School/Schools
- Name(s) and contact details of teacher/group leader
- Names and ages of young people involved
- Title of your Project and Method
- What did you want to find out?
- What resources did you use – online, museums, visits?
- Other people you involved
- The Project Outcome Itself – one (or a combination) of:
- A booklet (10,000 words maximum)
- A PowerPoint (or other presentation or series of displays)
- A video
- A script
- Or something similar e.g. photos of a classroom museum
N.B. It is important that this showcases the work done by the young people themselves.
- How you have shared this work (inside and/or outside your school/organisation)
About us
The Western Front Association
The Western Front Association (The WFA) was formed with the purpose of furthering interest in the First World War of 1914-1918. We also aim to perpetuate the memory, courage and comradeship of all those who served their countries on all sides, across all theatres and fronts, on land, at sea and in the air and at home during the Great War.
Malcolm Doolin 16.2.1950—20.3.2018
Malcolm Doolin grew up in Dover, Kent and lived and worked in East London. He was an educator, historian and author whose passionate interest in World War One stemmed from the stories his grandmother told him about her little brother, Ernest Sharp, who was killed, “blown to bits” on 22 April 1918 and who is commemorated at Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos.
Malcolm believed in the power of people working together and created successful teams in both his professional and personal life. As an education consultant, he encouraged schools to work together and, within his work with The Western Front Association, he drew together local history and genealogy groups, schools, churches, the local museum and the council in research and commemoration of the First World War and its impact on the local area.
At the end of every event he spoke at, he expressed the hope that people would continue to remember the war, particularly after the centenary commemorations were over. He would have wholeheartedly welcomed this award.