London,
28
March
2018
|
11:13
Europe/London

Exceptional young people recognised at youth awards

Young people who have excelled, overcome obstacles or made sacrifices to help others had their achievements recognised at the Camden Youth Awards.

The event at the Town Hall on Friday (23 March) also celebrated the youth services and youth workers that support young people, both within the council and the local voluntary sector.

The individual Camden Youth Award winners were:

  • Personal Journey Award (joint winner) – Hanifa Mohammed, a volunteer with our youth holiday activities programme, Camden Summer University, she has also gained a place to study art and design on the Central Saint Martins Insights further education programme
  • Personal Journey Award (joint winner) - Ahmed Noor, who signed up to Fast Forward, an EU-funded project to engage young people in education, training and employment, and now has a full-time job in construction
  • Young Volunteer - Saba Ahmed, who has volunteered at leading local youth charity Fitzrovia Youth in Action (FYA) since 2015. She helped plan FYA’s annual Community Christmas Party for older residents. Saba is a Peer Educator for FYA, raising awareness among other young people about mental health issues and substance misuse. She’s also an FYA Young Ambassador
  • Art and Culture - Samantha Muchanyuka, a sixth former at Maria Fidelis Catholic School. Taking part in the Creative Mentorship Network scheme, Samantha has become involved in a plethora of creative and advertising agencies. Her drive to enter the arts sector has been impressive and she has also shown herself to have the capability to be a consummate professional
  • Young Entrepreneur - Sarah Thorogood, from Camden School for Girls, who has set up Feeding Camden - a website that co-ordinates food collections and volunteering offers for local food banks
  • Young Carer - Jenny Kavanagh, who helped her younger brother stay on track at the Silverdale motorcycling and maintenance project and became an expert in fixing motorbikes herself
  • Positive Role Model - Lucy Heaney, a volunteer ‘peer motivator’ for Camden Summer University. She has supported many young people, including young people with disabilities, on this boroughwide youth holiday activities programme during her five years of volunteering. She’s also a qualified nursery nurse
  • Outstanding Young Woman of the Year - Khadija Miezou, who has been an exceptional head girl at Maria Fidelis School. Khadija has raised Sixth Form students’ awareness of sexual harassment and how to challenge it. She then also organised assemblies on this subject for Year 10 and Year 11 students which has helped spark healthy debate and greater awareness among students in the school
  • Apprentice - Chloe King, who wanted to pursue a career in the jewellery trade, applied to the Goldsmiths’ Company and was accepted onto a three-year Advanced Apprenticeship, Level 3. She became a silver hallmarker and now has her own hallmark for the jewellery she is designing
  • Adult Volunteer - Angela Davis. Angela has been an adult volunteer escort at our Wednesday Disability Project for many years, where she supports young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. Angela can mix with young people of all ages, supporting their wellbeing and enabling them to participate in positive activities to achieve their goals.

The group winners were:

  • Supporting Vulnerable Young People Award - Youth Disability Project. Supports young people with learning disabilities to attend youth clubs and other services, as well as supporting their transition to adulthood through a range of projects. Recent projects have included circus skills with the Roundhouse and learning about healthy eating. The project also supports young people to access mainstream youth services and to mix with other young people – something that many of them don’t otherwise do
  • Healthy Futures Awards – Somers Town Youth Centre, Fresh Youth Academy and Kilburn Youth Station. These are the council’s three main youth centres, which gained the Camden Healthy Futures Awards for their work in focusing on all areas of young people’s health. The awards, presented at the Camden Youth Awards, cover healthy eating, physical activity, smoking, alcohol and other substances, sexual health and relationships, mental health and wellbeing. They were awarded by our youth service, health and wellbeing team, FWD substance misuse service, Camden & Islington Sexual Health Network and the mental health commissioning team
  • Youth Volunteering Project – King’s Cross and Brunswick Neighbourhood Association (KCBNA) Youth Forum. KCBNA Youth Forum has a Human Rights Youth Action Project. They have raised money for Syrians in need. Members have completed accredited Youth Leadership Training. They have explored the effectiveness of youth action in tackling extremism and radicalisation, female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation.
  • Young People’s Partnership - Central Hub and Fitzrovia Youth in Action (FYA). FYA has been working with other local youth services on issues surrounding social media and the effects of it on young people’s mental health. Young people worked closely together, discussing their personal experiences of online bullying and how it made them feel or affected them mentally. They then worked together on making a film to raise awareness among other young people
  • Best Practice, Health and Wellbeing – Coram’s Fields, Project 10/10. Daniel Jourdan, youth programme manager at Coram's Fields, picked up this award on the night for his charity’s partnership work with the council, NHS and others as part of the Project 10/10 health, wellbeing and youth safety initiative.