The 2008 Young Achievers Award runners up are:
Sport (16-19)
Ben Lowe – 19
Ben set up and organised a major football match between local schools in his area to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis. It raised £6,500 and was attended by over 1,000 people. He organised all elements of the match himself from press and publicity to talking in local schools to increase interest. [Read more here]
Luke has taken numerous coaching courses which have enabled him to develop a local basketball club in his area, the “MVPhoenix”. Luke runs the coaching sessions for the club as well as getting other young volunteers to go with him into local schools and run taster sessions to attract future members. [Read more here]
Sport (20-25)
Aman started up the Swindon Olympic Wrestling club for young people. He has secured funding for equipment and a free venue to training. He coaches for 4 hours every week for both juniors and seniors. He has taken a number of young people to competitions and gained outstanding results, all whilst being one of the top wrestlers in the UK. [Read more here]
Frances Johnson-Beke – 24
Francis was a resident in a Foyer supported housing project during which time he became involved in a football team. Since leaving the Foyer Francis has taken charge of the football team and encouraged the local community to join with foyer residents. He now regularly coaches both 5-aside and 11-aside football teams. [Read more here]
Community (16-19)
Omar was instrumental in planning EID celebrations in his college which were fantastically well supported. The led him on to developing the Muslim Student Voice to provide a focal point for students within the college and to encourage inter-faith dialogue between students and lecturers.[Read more here]
Claire Matthews – 18
Claire set up a social enterprise venture to help some of the 3million people who work on the rubbish dumps in Manila. The project initiates livelihood projects for school leavers to teach enterprise and financial literacy skills to help them set up their own sustainable ventures. [Read more here]
Community (20-25)
Mohammed Bashir Walji – 24
Mohammed set up Ansar Youth Project 2 years ago as an organisation that organises projects for young people to help develop them in a holidctic manner. He manages the project has trained numerous volunteers to help run different aspects of the youth club. They now run social activities for over 500 young people a year. [Read more here]
Edward (EJ) Morta – 25
EJ was an integral part of forming a residents committee at WLYMCA, which over the last 12 months has helped canvass opinion and motivate over 500 residents on 9 hostel sites across west London. He has used his motivation to encourage more residents both locally and national to become representatives of their hostel and become group leaders. [Read more here]
Lisa became part of the National Trusts Conservation and Heritage Interpretation Project in Somerset in February 2007. Lisa has helped to advices the National Trust on opportunities available for young people. She has taken the skills gained from this to help her organise a beach clean for her community. [Read more here]
Natasha became involved in the Friends of Clinkham Wood Youth team when she was 13. She has now gone on to lead the under 13 youth team with whom she has worked with to raise issues on environmental concerns of local residents by organising litter picks and publicity campaigns. [Read more here]
Kate Lyons – 23
Kate has been heavily involved in a peer education climate change project which looks at giving constructive and creative ideas as to how to get other young people to think more about mitigating climate change. She developed a “Face your Elephant” project which went to lots of music festivals in the summer with hands on activities to showcase how easy it is to make positive changes in our environment. [Read more here]
Duane was a member of a street group who became involved in volunteering in the Green Fingers community allotment. He has been consistently involved for over 5 years now and regularly commits 2 days a week. Duane has led on helping elderly and vulnerable residents from the estate in all areas of gardening, from tree lopping to growing potatoes and tomatoes. [Read more here]
Arts (16-19)
Owen Lightburn – 18
Owen believes strongly in the importance of contributing to his local community. He discovered in the spring of 2007 that it was 25 years since a pantomime had been performed in the village hall. He came up with a script idea which he wrote, then organised cast members, as well as leading rehearsals, all whilst overcoming a serious stammer. [Read more here]
Matt set up a community project teaching DJ-ing in local schools as a way of engaging individuals to reduce anti social behaviour. He has developed lessons to teach young people about safety, gun crime and health through using music and DJ-ing, which he has found to be really effective in engaging young people. [Read more here]
Arts (20-25)
Andrew Hogg – 24
Andrew has been engaged in So Many Words for over 10 years. He has autism and learning difficulties, but regardless of this he has become a workshop leader and developed a disability awareness workshop using the medium of drama which he has delivered to 5 other groups locally. Through this work he has raised awareness of the project and encouraged other young people to become involved in So Many Words. [Read more here]
Elizabeth Newman - 22
Elizabeth is an active community theatre director with a passion for storytelling. She uses the medium of theatre to encourage all levels of society to work through issues and concerns. She recently put on a new play about the generational detachment. Through this she encouraged a wide cross sector of local residents to attend from elderly care home residents to young people. [Read more here]
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