Birmingham’s Young People recognised for their leadership!

Thursday 25th June saw 150 young people from Birmingham who represented a further 380, receive their Young Envisionaires Award for demonstrating commitment, teamwork, making a positive difference to their community and leading by example. Envision hosted an Awards Ceremony for all those students who took part in the programme for sixth forms and colleges across Birmingham. This year over 530 young people from Birmingham took part in the programme. The event was hosted by Envision students Tom, from Bishop Vesey's Grammar School and Asia from George Dixon International College.

The evening, which was held at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, was full of activities including recycling and jewellery workshops, live music, food and the awards ceremony. There were special awards up for grabs for those students who had excelled during the year and taken advantage of every aspect of the Envision programme. This year, JosephChamberlainCollege's anti-racism group won team of the year for their fantastic workshops in primary schools and huge attendance at all Envision events. Liam from Archbishop Ilsley and Pippa from St Francis of Assisi won Male and Female students of the year respectively. Envision also recognised the work carried out by its adult volunteers from the local community who give up a few hours each week to support the young people on their projects during weekly meetings. Catarina won the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award for her work with Shenley Court School.

Other winners on the evening included Project of the Year, which went to King Edwards VI Aston Grammar School, Community Impact Award which went to Bishop Vesey's Grammar school and Contact Teacher of the Year which was awarded to Karen Paul from George Dixon International College.

Envision teamed up with global campaign, ‘Not Stupid’ to theme the event around climate change. Each student was provided with an activist pack and the trailer of the groundbreaking indie film, ‘The Age of Stupid’ was shown before the ceremony.

Envision’s Programme Manager for Birmingham Andrew Ridge said:

“It was fantastic to see so many of Birmingham’s young people recognised for their achievements over the past year and challenge the stereotype that they are disengaged and apathetic towards the important issues going on around them. They are clearly passionate about what goes on in their schools and local communities and take their responsibilities as citizens seriously.”

Envision Unplugged 2009