Nobody's Perfect

Apologies if this edition of ALOL looks just like the last one but we think our Nobody's Perfect competition is worth mentioning twice.

Our competition, which gives you the opportunity to share your feelings about the issues that matter to you, has been running for just over a month. We've had some quite simply dazzling submissions so far and today is the last day we're accepting entries.

We're looking for you to submit your ideas to the dedicated competition website (details below). Those entrants who our panel choose as winners will be given professional training and assistance to turn their ideas into fully-fledged short movies about some of the issues that young people contact us about.

We're really lucky to have secured the involvement of the likes of Georgia Groome (from the recent film Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging) and Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies) on the panel.

The films will be premiered at a red carpet event at the Odeon in Covent Garden, London on 21st October.

We're accepting entries until 6pm today, so if you've got a film, a script or some music you want to upload, you need to get your skates on!

You'll find all the details by clicking here for the Nobody's Perfect competition website

Every month we interview one of our volunteers to help you get to know the people at the other end of your phone, email and webchat conversations.

This month it's the turn of Alison. That's a self-portrait of her over there.

ALOL: "What was the most moving call you've ever taken?"
Alison: "A young woman who had relationship with a man a lot older who was exploiting her. She was so frank about her situation and seemed relieved just to talk to someone who would not judge."

Click here to read the rest of the interview

We've been thinking here recently about the way young people are portrayed in the media.

Seemingly every story we read in the papers or online, or see on TV is about teenagers carrying knives, drinking illegally and generally causing trouble for other people and themselves.

We know, from talking to young people every single day, that this isn't a fair representation of the issues most young people go through. In our experience, young people are more likely to be concerned about their emotions, their relationships, bullying, sexuality and self-harm than they are to drink illegally, mug people or make lives difficult for other people.

So, we want to hear directly from you about this issue. Are young people unfairly represented by the media?

Click here to vote in our poll

Well, okay, maybe that's not entirely accurate, but Manchester United's stadium, Old Trafford, was the venue for this year's Get Connected Regional Youth Event.

We had an amazing day and learnt an awful lot from the young people who turned up to help advise us on our service, our marketing and generally all the stuff that makes this charity tick.

You can read more about the event by clicking here

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