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Home » News and Events » Hackney Youth Awards 2007
Hackney Youth Awards 2007
Everyone a winner
The community spirit of Hackney youth has been celebrated at a glitzy awards ceremony. Ocean in Mare Street was packed for the annual event, which recognises young people’s contributions to the borough. Nearly 100 awards were given out after every youth project in Hackney was invited to nominate two inspiring young people. Five special awards were also made to young people for outstanding community and personal achievements.
Each of the winners were nominated by their youth workers from groups and organisations such as Connexions, Rising Tide and Sky Partnership.
Rachel Dring, from Hoxton Hall, thought Mervyn Green,18, deserved recognition for turning around his life through drama. She said: “Mervyn has been involved with a youth drama group for around a year and a half. He found it difficult at first, but overcame a lot of personal barriers and hurdles. He’s grown in his acting ability, attitude, and confidence and is now much more positive about his future.” Mervyn added: “My friends told me that acting was hard and I wouldn’t get anywhere, but I didn’t listen to them. “When I’m acting I get to be someone else; for one significant moment I’m an important person involved in this project or show.” Mervyn is now working at a local theatre and plans to pursue acting as a profession. He said: “I understand people better now through drama, and have formed strong bonds with a lot of people.”
Feray Timur, 15, from Hoxton, was the youngest special award recipient. She was nominated by Ibrahim Dogus, from the Halkevi Community Centre in Stoke Newington. He said: “Feray worked as a volunteer at the Centre where she was active in organizing activities for elderly members and encouraging other young people to get more involved in community activities.” Feray also enjoys helping young people who have recently arrived from Turkey adjust to English culture. She said: “It makes me feel better when I help people.” Feray also organised an event at her secondary school to create a better understanding of Kurdish culture among her peers: “I asked my teachers if we could celebrate Newroz – Kurdish New Year. “We all brought in food so the children could learn about Kurdish culture – many of them thought it was the same as Turkish. Everyone enjoyed it so much they want to have another one next year.”
The special award winners were Jade Harris, 18, nominated by the 16+ Joint Assessment team, Daryl Guthrie, 19, nominated by Hackney Youth Parliament, and Chloe Lukeman, 18, nominated by Groundwork East London. Watford Football Club player Danny Shittu presented some of the awards, as did Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Rita Krishna, who said: “All the young award recipients were well deserved of this recognition. They, with support from local organisations, showed dedication and maturity through their community involvement. I hope they can inspire other young people in Hackney to engage more with their local communities.”
The Hackney Youth Awards were organised by the Council and Hackney Voluntary Action.
By Karyn Michael Hackney Today The paper for all Hackney people This article was reproduced with the kind permission of Hackney Today
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