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Kimberley students run awards show
PUPILS from Kimberley have been running the show after hosting a top awards ceremony recognising young people's achievements.
Youngsters from Kimberley School were in charge of jobs including dealing with dignitaries, photographing the winners and running the technical equipment when they hosted Nottinghamshire's annual Young People Awards, which recognised unsung young heroes who had made an outstanding contribution to the community.
The 12 sixth form students, aged 17 and 18, were chosen to take charge of the awards ceremony and it was only the second time school students had hosted the annual event. The YOPEY awards founder Tony Gearing usually presents the event personally, but he said he always intended for the job to be passed on.
He said: "I always thought YOPEY should be put on by young people, but I had to learn how to present the awards myself before I could teach others. Nottinghamshire County Council challenged me to go ahead and pass the job over as I had said, so I did a practice run with the ceremony in Buckinghamshire two weeks ago and went for it."
One student ran the auto-cue, four presented awards, while others worked closely with photographers and more managed the dignitaries and finalists. The awards competition, sponsored by Nottinghamshire County Council, aims to recognise and reward young people aged 10 to 25. The awards ceremony, held at County Hall in West Bridgford, Nottingham, congratulated the 12 finalists with cheques and certificates.
Joint first place winners were Bex Bailey and Ian Campbell, who won 1,000 each. Bex was commended for taking on a club at her school in Rushcliffe. Ian won the award for the work he does raising awareness about homophobic bullying. The 22-year-old from Retford gives up his free time to offer talks and workshops in schools and has also set up support groups to help young people who are gay or lesbian.
The winners shared 50 per cent of their cash prize with a charity of their choice.
Mr Gearing used to be a journalist on the Daily Telegraph and launched YOPEY because he was sick of the bad press youngsters got. Next year's ceremony will be hosted by students in Rushcliffe.
l Paige Roberts, from Langley Mill, was commended at the Derbyshire Young Achievers Awards last Friday for how she deals with having cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Despite the illnesses, the ten-year-old has an outstanding school attendance record and always has a smile on her face.
Paige, who attends Langley Mill Junior School, was nominated by assistant headteacher Alison Seaton for showing great courage on a daily basis.
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