Local girl, Halima Omari-Hakim, from East London, wins nationwide competition to be lead-voice in new Animated Series about cleaning-up our planet.

A nationwide competition to find the voice of the lead character for a new animated series has today announced that local schoolgirl, Halima Omari-Hakim, from East London, has won the main prize to narrate “Clean Our Planet: Energy Of Change”.

Halima Omari-Hakim, aged 8, along with five other children from around the country were selected after a six-month process that searched across 40,000 families. Run by Clean Planet Energy and partnered by the UK’s leading child talent agency Scallywags, participants were asked to create a short video about how they are helping protect the planet.

“Halima’s video-entry took us on a journey around her home-town and how she was making a sustainable difference. From putting up signs which helped remind people to stop dumping their litter, to showing us where and how different recycling bins exist for people to use, it is clear Halima was working with her community to help better the local area ”, said Bertie Stephens, CEO of Clean Planet Energy

“The purpose of the new animated series is to help both inform and engage people of all ages as to how our lifestyles impacts upon nature. We must take a step-back and realise that the current balance between nature and society is untenable, but importantly we must have the courage to make incremental changes so that we can live the life we want, but in harmony with the nature around us”, continued Stephens.

Speaking after she had been told of her win, Halima spoke about her love for the environment “I recycle and make news things from tins, boxes and food packaging so that it's not just put in the bin and I always recycle other rubbish. I look after the wild animals in my garden by putting bird food and bird baths out for the birds and I am building a Bee Sanctuary to help bees survive.”

Upon finding out about her win, Halima is excited to share the important messages with the wider world, “Wow! I feel so excited to be involved in this new cartoon, and to be able to help and share so that more of us can do more to save our planet. I can show my friends and family the animated series and they can share it with others so that lots of people see and learn and help. I feel proud that I can be a helper to mother earth. It's so exciting. “

The animation is slated to deliver a narrative that will take the audience through the ages, on an arc of discovery. Mixing key messages with entertainment is difficult, but Halima, along with the other five winners were picked as they have an edge to make people of all ages sit up and listen. “If we’re going change the world, achieve the seemingly impossible, we’ll have to achieve it with those whose future it impacts most, for people and businesses alike we’re entering an era of the Clean Planet Economy”, Stephens concluded.

The animated series will go into voice-over production this Summer with an initial release date scheduled for Q4 this year. The primary target audience will be school-children but like all good animations the purpose is to bring-together the entire family.

From the initial entries that reached 40,000 families, 15 finalists were shortlisted by a team of 5 judges. All finalists will receive a certificate, and the winners, in addition to winning the voice-over prize, have also been awarded a cash prize of £125; the family also receives a set of Clean Planet t-shirts.