Program Calendar

Entries for the anthology are now closed

Entries for the 2010 anthology and DVD closed at the end of Term 2. Thank you to all those schools who submitted artwork and writing this year. Works are currently being shortlisted...

Put your school on the Source to the Sea map

Commencing in Term 3, this virtual journey of the Basin gives schools a chance to share images and information, creating a snapshot of their community in 2010. Gift vouchers will be awarded...

Email us to order participation certificates

Participation certificates will be sent out in September to schools who submitted artwork and writing for the anthology. Please email specialforever@elit.edu.au by 13 August to advise us how many certificates your school requires. Merit certificates...

Put your school on the map - share images and information about your part of the Basin
Build knowledge and a sense of community while linking literacy, ICT and HSIE/SOSE
Prizes to be awarded to selected schools who participate by the end of Term 3

Tell us about your water education project

Share your ideas and inspire others in the Water = Life project

Describe a water-related project that your school or community will complete in 2010
Prizes to be awarded to selected participating schools
Entries close at the end of Term 3.

Enter multimodal texts by the end of Term 3

Six flip cameras to be awarded to selected participating schools

Submit movies, podcasts, PowerPoint presentations and ebooks
Focus on waterways and their inhabitants, preserving the riparian zone, water management
Selected texts will be published on the Special Forever website

Get involved in Term 3 - more giveaways to be awarded

Special Forever is bigger and

better than ever in 2010

Every year 15-20,000 students participate in Special Forever: a Murray-Darling Basin water education project, learning about the unique environments that make up their local area and the Murray-Darling Basin as a whole.

New project, new features

In 2010, the program offers participants a range of exciting new features including:

a focus on water
a new-look anthology/DVD pack featuring selected student works in full-colour (some with animation)

valuable new teaching resources

giveaways and prizes for participation

Learn, engage, communicate

Special Forever is a great opportunity for students and teachers to learn about and engage with their environment, and communicate through written, visual or multimodal texts for publication on the project website, DVD or in the annual anthology.

Teaching Resources

The program can assist teachers address essential learning standards across English, Studies of Society and Environment, Science, the Arts and ICT. A range of teacher resources are downloadable from the website including Teaching Units based on the project themes.

Project partners

e:lit – the Primary English Teaching Association in partnership with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority has managed the project since 1993. Special Forever continues to create much enthusiasm amongst schools, teachers, students and the community and provides a wealth of environmental teaching resource material.

New projects, new prizes in Term 3

With submissions for the anthology closed at the end of Term 2, a number of exciting, new projects will run throughout Term 3.

Source to the Sea - a virtual river journey is a fantastic new online project which gives schools the chance to put themselves 'on the map' and together, build a picture of the Basin in 2010. Go to the Source to the Sea website for more information. Gift vouchers for educational resources will be awarded to selected participants.

Water = Life gives schools a chance to share their water-related projects, with the chance to be awarded a gift voucher for educational resources for their school. Click here for more information.

Water-related multimodal texts, including movies, podcasts, PowerPoint presentations and ebooks, may be submitted for consideration for publication on the website, with flip cameras to be awarded to selected entries. Click here for guidelines for the submission of multimodal texts.

New teaching resources available

A new teaching unit, Catchment Matters for Years 5-7, is now available. Click here to download.

The MDBA also offers a range of educational resources on their website. Visit their Educational Resources page here.

Rivers of wonder

Place your order for the 2009 Special Forever anthology Rivers of wonder. Order form