Tasty competition winners announced Here are the five winners of our Cake Sale competition. Each of these scrumptious entries bag themselves a copy of the CD, which is released on 5 November. "Hi Oxfam, I've just this afternoon made my favourite cake, a rice crispie cake smothered in milky chocolate, silver balls, party rings, chocolate fingers covered in hundreds and thousands and, of course, smarties. It's all about the sugar! I always make it in the shape of something and as it's for my boyfriend's 22nd birthday AND he just finished his thesis, today, I've made it in the shape of the compound he synthesised for his thesis... I've enclosed a picture!" View Maddy Strikland's creation above. "Carrot cake - it helps you see in the dark." Jean Forrest from Glasgow. "Rock or Rave? Got to be rock cake every time! (And it's tough enough to survive a weekend's stewarding at the glade fest!!!)" Drum Richards from Epsom. "My favorite cake is a Cheesecake. On the top there would be raspberries from my late fruiting raspberry bushes in my allotment to keep the food miles down. I would also grate some Fairtrade and organic chocolate on the top. That way it is good for everyone!" Abi Heron. And here is a special ode from Cheralyn Bratley: "When I'm in the mood To gorge myself with food, Nothing can compare To a Chocolate Eclair. On offer at the bakery Buy 2 and get 3. Guiltily I pretend, I'll share the others with a friend. So what if gluttony's a sin. I am the Human Cream Cake Bin!" Thanks for all your tasty entries, if your recipe wasn't a winner Cake Sale is also available to download on itunes. posted at 10:51 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Your summer signatures go to Downing Street Remember that petition you signed, back in the summer, when you were trudging through the mud at Glastonbury or basking in the heady sunshine on the Isle of Wight? Remember our army of Rock or Rave t-shirt-wearing super campaigners who talked to you about climate change? Well that very petition, signed by over 100,000 of you, has been delivered to the big man at number 10 by supporters of I Count. The campaign is supported by organisations including Oxfam, Greenpeace, Water Aid, Christian Aid and WWF. And just so you know the background, the petition demands that the government: 1. Increases the carbon dioxide reduction target from 60% to at least 80% by 2050 2. Ensures that emissions from international aviation and shipping are included in the targets 3. And sets binding carbon budgets with annual milestones, to make sure that emissions reductions are on track. Thanks again for signing this - your signatures really put pressure on the government to do something about this. Read more about what we got up to at festivals this summer >> posted at 1:42 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Eat cow-pie with Desperate Dan Fancy appearing in a Desperate Dan comic? Or maybe having a top London chef cook you dinner at home? How about spending a day driving a tube train? All of these and many more experiences are soon up for auction, with the proceeds going to Oxfam. So, if you're stuck for Christmas ideas, why not bid on one of these Oxfam Experiences? You (or a mate) could be a cricket team mascot at The Oval, or have a private tour of the Renault Formula 1 technical centre. The Oxfam Experiences eBay auction starts on the 22 November but you can register now for a reminder. posted at 9:56 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Watch this Oxjam video, it's nice More cool Oxjam stuff >> posted at 9:22 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Go gigging for the last week of Oxjam... Oxjam - our month-long music fundraising frenzy - is nearly over, and what a month it's been already. From the facepaints'n'glowsticks of OxRave in Newcastle (see pic) to the hat-tastic HatJam in Shoreditch, 100s of amazing people all over the UK have been making music, raising money and helping to end poverty. Catch the latest on the Oxjam blog, and see if there's a gig near you during the big final week... posted at 2:45 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Get your Crimbo shopping done early It’s that time of year when baubles and 3-for-2 rolls of santa print wrapping paper start creeping into the aisles of every shop on the high street. Avoid the overload of festive novelty tat by buying your Christmas gifts online from Oxfam Unwrapped. From a couple of textbooks to an entire classroom, your gift will make a huge difference to the lives of people in poor countries. There’s a great selection - from gifts that grow to emergency essentials - and not forgetting the obligatory goat. Check out Oxfam Unwrapped >> posted at 3:28 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Cirque du Soleil gets dizzy for Oxfam Tickets are now on sale for Oxfam’s annual benefit night with crazy international circus dudes Cirque du Soleil. Varekai is the name of the show, and it promises to be a dizzy night of contortionist-acrobatics and gravity-defying stunts. 75 per cent of the proceeds from the night will go towards an Oxfam youth project in Kenya. It helps young people to acquire new skills so they can cope with the environmental impacts of climate change and find new ways to make a living. The Oxfam benefit night is on 25 January 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Find out more and buy tickets online >> posted at 2:51 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Record breakers stand up against poverty Yesterday, as part of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, 38.7 million people, in over 110 countries, Stood Up and Spoke Out against poverty - breaking the previous world record of 23.5 million set last year (that's us standing up at work in the pic). posted at 4:02 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Get one million people to change the world Small actions = big change is a competition with a difference. Normally you enter a comp to bag yourself some goodies, but this is a competition to help change the world. To take part you need to submit an everyday action that can be done by lots of people to make a big change. You also need to take a picture or scribble a drawing of your action to help convince the nation that your action should win. If your small action wins it could be done by as many as a million people! It could be as simple as being nice to everyone for a week, wearing a jumper instead of having the heating on, or turning your telly off at the plug. Enter by 19 December. The competition is open to under 18s, and is being run by the site We Are What We Do. Find out more and enter >> posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Fabulous festival prize winners announced! Congratulations to Siobhan Rushe, from South London, who is the winner of our ultimate ethical festival survival kit. Siobhan is all set to be the green festival Queen with a luxury handmade tipi, organic cotton roll-up bed, solar shower, solar powered torch and wind up radio. "I am so thrilled to win this. I have always gazed longingly at the teepees at Glastonbury but could never afford to get one. As you might have gathered, I am a Glastonbury nut, had a wonderful time there this year in the mud, and no longer have a tent cos I donated mine to Shelter, so this is just incredible. Also love to go to the IofW fest, and went to V this year as well...but Glasto is my spiritual home... now I've won this wonderful tipi, all I need is a ticket for next year!!" The runner up, Holly Harbinson from Liverpool, will be festivalling in style with her very own designer Cath Kidston tent. "I went to Reading and had the most fantabulous of times although my tent, which has been to the last three, came back a little worse for wear! Now I have a shiny new tent to take with me next year...Roll on Reading '08!" Find out what Oxfam got up to at this year's festivals >> posted at 3:06 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Are you a climate change champ? Are you passionate about the environment? Fancy representing your country as a climate change champion? The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (aka Defra) runs an annual competition to find nine outstanding young people to represent England and help spread the word about climate change. Last year’s champs had tea with Tony at Number 10 before embarking on a European climate change expedition to the Chelenalp glacier in Switzerland. Since then they have been speaking at events across the country to make people aware of climate change and its effects. The competition is open to young people aged between 11 and 18 and the closing date for applications is 9 November. Find out more and apply >> posted at 11:13 AM | Permalink 0 comments

V CD comp winners Michelle Kavanagh, from Grays in Essex, and Clare Bergin, from Dublin, will be reliving the music of the summer as winners of our V Festival CD comp. Both correctly identified that greenhouse gases cause global warming. Both are thrilled with their musical prize: "I came into the Oxfam tent just for a bit of a nosey, but found out tons about the great work you do. Now I find myself a winner!! Wow! Thank you so much, see you next year at the greatest Music Fest in the UK!" Michelle Kavanagh. “Thanks so much for the CDs, this is fantastic! V Festival Rocks!” Clare Bergin. Thanks girls, because of all you great people our 2007 summer festivals tour was a huge success, we’ll see you next summer! posted at 11:08 AM | Permalink 0 comments

STAND UP and SPEAK OUT against poverty On 16 –17 October join millions of people across the globe to STAND UP and SPEAK OUT against poverty. Last year 23.5 million people across the globe stood up against poverty within a 24 hour period and set a new Guinness World Record. The Global Call to Action Against Poverty and the United Nations Millennium Campaign are asking people to make a stand and demand that governments keep their promises to make poverty history. Find an event near you >> posted at 12:07 PM | Permalink 4 comments

Festival photo comp winners Congratulations to the winners of our festivals photo competition, who bag themselves a stack of festival CDs. Jenny Lee, from Bristol, took the winning shot at Reading: “The bottles in the air photo was taken whilst waiting for Lost Prophets to come on. Everyone was getting impatient so it turned into a mass bottle, ball and any-throwable-object fight! No bottles were harmed in the making of this photo. Just maybe a few sore heads.” See the rest of the entries to our Reading Festival photo comp. Rebecca Evans, from Cardiff, scooped first prize for her tasty Leeds shot: “Leeds Festival Cuisine is among the finest in the world. Thank goodness the festival is three whole days long... plenty of time to sample everything from falafels and cheesy chips to the legendary hot chilli (only for the brave!). Marco Pierre White, eat your heart out! I'm really looking forward to the CDs - they will bring back the awesome and summery festival feeling and will keep me going through the long cold winter!” See the rest of our Leeds Festival photo comp entries. posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Fatboy Slim rocks the Dalston Oxfam shop The month-long Oxjam music festival is now in full swing. Last night (4th October) Fatboy Slim came to the Kingsland Road Oxfam shop and brought the house down in the intimate, but very sweaty bookshop basement. The crowd was mainly made up of competition winners for the last night of stupendous celebrity Oxjam launch events. The night began with a great set from Emmanuel Jal, the Sudanese lyricist, whose hip hop is infused with a positive message, despite his harrowing upbringing as a child soldier. He was amazing and got the audience going by asking them to participate in an African stamping dance. Then Fatboy chanelled the Balearic islands into a corner of East London and even performed in bare feet and a Hawaiian shirt (which he bought in an Oxfam shop of course!) He enjoyed the gig as much as the audience and shook hands with the first row, as well as mouthing words into a banana throughout the set. Now it's over to you to make your nationwide Oxjam gigs as stupendous as ours... [All photos by Nick Stevens.] posted at 10:30 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Win tasty CDs We are giving 5 lucky people the chance to get their hands on the exclusive Cake Sale CD, which has been produced by Oxfam records to raise money for Oxfam Ireland’s Make Trade Fair campaign. The Cake Sale is a collection of top musicians and writers who have combined their talents to produce a nine song CD. Songs on the album have been written by Dave Geraghty and Paul Noonan of Bell X1, Emm Gryner, Glen Hansard, Ollie Cole (of Irish band Turn), Damien Rice and Matt Lunson. Enter now >> posted at 1:38 PM | Permalink 0 comments

Back to uni It's that time again, back to work (and the bar). If you'd like to make this year just a little more ethical, here are some ideas: Student guide to ethical living Students take action with P&P Getting on the charity career ladder Ethical careers Get active at university posted at 8:57 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Badger tops September poll shocker! Last month we asked you to vote for your favourite black and white animal. Well the results are in. Regular readers probably won't be surprised to learn that the badger narrowly saw off pre-poll favourites zebra and killer whale. Thanks to all who voted on this important issue. Click the image for 'press' coverage... posted at 12:12 PM | Permalink 2 comments

Oxjam gets off to a flying start Oxjam got off to a flying start last night with a highly entertaining launch event. At 7pm the doors opened to fifty lucky competition winners, and their guests, who were treated to intimate performances by Remi Nicole, Jarvis Cocker and The Kooks. The shop’s basement had been transformed into an indoor music festival, complete with bar, chill out areas, DJ booth and ambient lighting courtesy of fairy lights strung amongst the second-hand paperbacks. The shop upstairs was open for business supplying ticket winner with all sorts of delightful purchases from second hand records to signed Kooks t-shirts. Read all about it on the Oxjam blog >> posted at 11:34 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Win a VIP trip for two to the MTV Europe Music Awards Yup, you and a mate could be mixing with the stars in Munich this November at the MTV Europe Music Awards. We've got a pair of VIP tickets to giveaway, complete with flights, accommodation and all that stuff - all to celebrate the magnificent month of musical mayhem that is Oxjam (apologies for all those Ms). It'll be the usual MTV glamour and glitz-fest - Snoop Dogg is the host, with performances from Foo Fighters, Mika and loads more. Enter now >> posted at 9:30 AM | Permalink 0 comments

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