Childnet Academy '05

Spending a few days with a small group of people representing seven continents is extraordinary in itself. But when they're young and communicators and promoters of the best of causes and ideas, spending time with each other can be life-changing for them and everyone involved. I'm speaking of this year's Childnet Academy in Jamaica last week, celebrating some of the best young Webmasters in the world. I was inspired by the work of this year's winners, among them:

* UK 8-year-old Lalit Maganti's "Animals in Danger," which Lalit learned how to build from borrowing a Web site how-to book from the library.
* 14-year-old Elizabeth Clegg's "Looking at You" for the sight-impaired (Elizabeth wrote site content from her own experience).
* 17-year-old Nigerian Samuel Oloyede Odofin's - "Biotechnology: The food solution," written in three languages (from a country greatly in need of increased food production).
* "It's all in the mix" by students at Northern Ireland's first religiously integrated school, reaching out with their stories about mixing it up in a divided community to peers in other divided communities worldwide.