Celebrating city’s young stars at launch of awards
Schools and organisations in the city are being asked to nominate unsung young heroes over the next couple of months for the new Young Stars Awards which was launched this week. The awards, launched across Bath and North East Somerset on Tuesday, are to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of extraordinary young people in the area. The Young Star Awards was created after Bath and North East Somerset Council leader, Tim Warren, listened to remarkable stories of young people, who make a valuable contribution to their community at Bristol’s Young Heroes Award earlier this year. Now residents, schools and organisations are being urged to nominate a young person who they think is worthy of such an award and receive the recognition they deserve. At the launch of the awards, which took place at the Guildhall, Cllr Warren said: “I am delighted to officially launch these awards. I have no doubt there are a lot of young people in Bath and North East Somerset who deserve recognition for the support they show others but we just don’t get to hear about it. Our Young Stars will shine a light on them so please nominate the young star in your school, community or voluntary group. “I am very grateful to all the sponsors for supporting these awards. They are helping fund the awards, for example Bath BID and Southgate are contributing by providing Bath Gift Cards to the nominees. It means they can spend the cards in city shops and get themselves kitted out for the awards evening, which promises to be a really special event.” Sponsors of the awards, Wessex Water, Bath Rugby, IESIS and Kersfield, attended the launch and said they were looking forward to meeting the finalists. Tarquin Mcdonald, chief executive of Bath Rugby said “‘We are delighted to support the Our Young Stars Awards and to help celebrate amazing children and young adults. Their example is an inspiration and something they, and more widely all of us, should be very proud of. By celebrating their achievements other people will hopefully be inspired and realise the profoundly positive impact they too can have in their community.’ There are five main categories for the awards: Education, Unsung, Courage, Sport and Innovation. A panel of judges will look at all the nominations in December and select three of the most deserving young people from each category to become finalists. The 15 finalists will then be invited to a Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday March 9 for a celebration of their achievements, where the winners will be announced and awards presented to all of the finalists. Nomination forms are available online at: www.bathnes.gov.uk/ ouryoungstars Completed forms can also be returned by post to: Bath and North East Somerset Council, The Leader’s Office, Guildhall, Bath. BA1 5AW or emailed to: Leader&_cabinetoffice@bathnes.gov.uk Nominees must be 18 or under on Monday December 31, 2018. The deadline for nominations is Friday November 30, 2018.