The Slough Youth Awards returned last Friday (11 December) to celebrate and recognise the impressive contributions young people have made to the town.
The Slough Youth Awards returned last Friday (11 December) to celebrate and recognise the impressive contributions young people have made to the town.
Now in its fifth year, 2020 has seen may challenges for all, so it was more important than ever to celebrate Slough’s youth who have remained inspired, creative and resilient. Unlike the usual face to face event, this year saw the first digital streaming live on YouTube’s SloughForYouth channel including performances from local young people. As always the quality of nominations were high, in spite of the obvious challenges this year’s pandemic has presented.
The awards are supported by the council’s Young People’s Service and Slough Youth Parliament. The annual ceremony arose from the youth parliament’s manifesto commitment to raise the profile of young people in a positive way, by celebrating their many achievements. This year the awards received 50 nominations for young people and groups aged 11-19 (up to 25 with learning difficulties or disabilities and for care leavers) who live in the borough.
The ceremony was hosted by youth representatives: Amelia Hussain, and Nawid Bosty, both elected members of Slough Youth Parliament. The virtual event was produced by Matthew Fleming & Patrick Harrison from Limelight Futures
Awards were presented across five categories: young artist, young environmentalist, young inspiration, young volunteer of the year, and young voluntary group of the year.
Young voluntary group of the year
Winner: Slough’s Young Inspectors
Runner up: Young Health Champions (Slough)
Young volunteer of the year
Winner: Harjaap Singh
Runner up: Aida Ahmed
Highly Commended Award: Aditi Banerjee
Young inspiration
Winner: Amrit Singh Mann (Mannz Broadcast)
Runner up: Logan Reid
Highly Commended Award: Harjaap Singh
Young environmentalist
Winner: Aditi Banerjee
Runner up: Aik Saath
Young artist
Winner: Siyona Bhandari
Joint Runners up: Harjaap Singh & Aditi Banerjee
Councillor Martin Carter, cabinet member for children and schools, said: “Our young people have shown during the pandemic how motivated they are in working to improve their community.
“They are an inspiration to us all and I’m so pleased we have this awards ceremony to recognise their efforts.”
The audience was treated to performances from BeatsRoutes- Raphael Michael, Sal Latif, Devonte Williams, El Knight, Rebecca Martin, Matt Fleming, Aysen Castang, Jules Moberly & Monique Connor. Also 2 poetry performances from Aditee Banerjee. Plus a #KnifeFreeSlough campaign video by Resource Productions in conjunction with YES Slough & Aik Saath.
The awards judges were:
Cllr Martin Carter, Cabinet Member for Children & Schools, Slough Borough Council,
Ketan Ghandi, Assistant Director Place Regulation, Slough Borough Council
James Parker – Slough Community Volunteer Service
Peter Collins – Slough & Eton C of E Business & Enterprise College
and Tanveer Sandhu – Youth Judge.
For more information on Slough’s Youth Voice initiatives, email sloughforyouth@slough.gov.uk