Winners Honoured at Youth Work Awards

The Christian Youth Work Awards is an initiative of We Love Our Youth Worker working in partnership with Youthwork. The awards recognise excellence in church-based and Christian youth work, and are judged by a panel of youth work practitioners, lecturers and young people, from a pool of public nominations. We Love Our Youth Worker’s Ruth Bennett, who hosted the ceremony, said: ‘It’s so encouraging to hear first-hand stories of people doing exceptional youth work. By highlighting some of these stories, we hope that it will encourage us all to keep going, keep innovating and keep carrying out excellent youth work.’

The first award of the evening was for Volunteer of the Year and was presented to Carol Stewart, from All Saints Church, Ilkley. In 1975 she started a Pathfinders group at the church (having previously done youth work elsewhere) and has been involved with various groups ever since, including four different groups which run throughout the week and a CYFA Venture camp in Blaithwaite. One of her nominees said, ‘Carol has been an enormous influence on the lives of young people, encouraging many of them to move into leadership themselves.’ On the night Carol told Youthwork: ‘I’m absolutely flabbergasted. When I was told I’d been nominated I thought they’d got the wrong person! The only reason I’ve ever done youth work is because God asked me to and I’ve had a lot of joy out of it because I believe it’s what he made me to do. One of the things that has been very apparent to me is that a lot of people come into youth work, do good stuff, but then go off to something “bigger,” but I’m the idiot who stuck around just carrying on.’ The other finalists for this award were Ian Tilley (from Woking), Gaynor Elebert (Walkden), Rosie Watts (Normanby) and Sara Artingstall (Paignton).

Golddigger Trust won the next award of the evening, for Most Innovative Youth Work, beating OCCA’s ‘Reboot’ event and ENYP from Norwich. The organisation works with young people who have been exploited sexually or those who are at risk of exploitation, as well as training other youth workers in this area. One person who nominated Golddigger said that the organisation: ‘Is obviously filling a huge gap in both council and Christian services. They are leading the way in working with vulnerable exploited young people, and seeing incredible results.’

Chief executive Beth Stout said: ‘What’s innovative about the project is working with exploitation. Child sexual exploitation is a topic that not many people want to touch.’

The award for Best Youth Work Resource went to the ‘Alpha youth team guide’. This was the only award to be decided by public vote, and the guide was up against Open Doors’ ‘My heart bleeds’ resource, Soul Survivor’s ‘Bible in a year’, Tearfund’s Rhythms and Fusion’s Student linkup pack. The guide supports leaders and young people who are running Alpha for young people in youth groups or schools, and provides them with session plans. Alpha UK’s youth development coordinator Tom Clark said: ‘It was a fantastic evening celebrating the best of youth work. We’re really honoured and privileged to have won this award, considering all of the other great resources we were up against!’

The next award was for Best Youth Work Employer and was won by St Jude’s Church in Plymouth. The church has employed youth workers for over 20 years and recently spent over £70,000 renovating the youth worker’s accommodation, as well as paying for the youth worker’s degree and ensuring he was correctly on the JNC pay scale. The renovation project included help from young offenders , many of whom offered to help even after they had done their ‘shift’. The youth worker, Matt, said: ‘They continue to pour into me financially in terms of supporting my ideas and ongoing training. They have been excellent during my own personal hardships and have been graceful and pastoral at all times.’

The church’s vicar Rev. Tim Smith said: ‘As a Christian organisation looking after a youth worker, you want to encourage, you want to equip, you want to put them through the training they need and you want to have a pastoral side as well’. The other finalists were Horsham Matters, Cast Maidstone, Boost Felixstowe and One Youth Brighton.

Carol has been an enormous influence on the lives of young people, encouraging many of them to move into leadership themselves

The final award of the evening was for Youth Worker of the Year, which went to Adie Hinsley from the e:merge charity in Bradford. Adie has been a youth worker in the East Bowling area of Bradford for 25 years. E:merge works with some of the most marginalised people in the area and her work includes one-to-one work, transition work, and self-esteem support across three schools. On top of this she helps to run a weekly young people’s church on a Friday night. Her nominators said: ‘Giving your life to work out your personal mission is an understatement for Adie. She has been doing youth work for 20 years and has impacted and been a part of huge transformations in a large number of incredibly vulnerable young people. There is a massive cost to her and her family as she lives out this ministry and demonstrates genuine love better than I have seen anywhere else. It is an absolute privilege to work alongside such a sold-out, committed and talented youth worker. Every community needs an Adie. E:merge and East Bowling are both the richer that we’ve got ours.’

Speaking to Youthwork at the awards, Adie said: ‘I just get on and do what I do. All I can think about is the young people I work with. I work with so many young people who struggle and have a hard time, so this is for them. Sometimes it’s lonely being a youth worker – you have some dark days and lonely times. But seeing the bigger picture and all that’s going on is amazing. As for what’s next? Just keeping on going.’

The awards are a collaboration between We Love Our Youth Worker and Youthwork, with individual awards sponsored by Moorlands College, Oasis College, CYM, CPAS Ventures and Youthwork. The ceremony was sponsored by the London School of Theology. Nominations for next year are already open at www.youthworkawards.co.uk and include a new award for ‘Unsung Hero of the Year’, for those in the background, supporting youth workers in practical ways.