Valerie attends Your UK Parliament Awards event

The 2019 Your UK Parliament Awards day took place on Tuesday 2 April 2019. The Awards began last year and recognise people who have helped make Parliament more accessible to people throughout the UK. This year I was one of the Judges.

At the event I met pupils from The Grange Primary School, who won the Speaker’s School Action Award. This was for the school’s campaign to raise awareness of mental health in school and the community. The school held debates, wrote to members of the Royal Family and also recorded a YouTube video about the issues discussed.

There were six other categories of awards:

The Hummingbird Young Leaders won the award for Community Campaigner and are a group of refugees who have worked to improve the lives of other young refugees in the UK, including meeting with several MPs and attending parliamentary Committees.

The leader of the We Care Campaign, Katy Styles, won the award for Digital Campaigner for running an e-petition, and using Twitter to highlight the carers’ issues.

Eastbury Community School won UK Parliament Week Activity of the Year for the activities they ran, such as mock elections and an Equali-Tea fundraising stall celebrating the equal right to vote for all.

The award for UK Parliament Partner of the Year went to Girlguiding Ulster, who visited Stormont and heard from Members of the Legislative Assembly from all of the main Northern Irish parties.

Teacher of the Year was won by Simone Ryan at St Gregory’s Catholic Science College, and Joy Helliwell of Ladybridge High School, who organised events at their schools which included a Parliament Outreach Assembly and a ‘Question Time’-style debate with local MPs. These allowed students to gain a deeper understanding of UK politics.

Maxine Jones won the award for Volunteer of the Year, for her work as Girlguiding Anglia region lead volunteer for Parliament Week who organised activities and promoted Parliament Week and Vote 100 in newsletters, a website, social media and a Girlguiding radio show.

These awards give individuals, schools and organisations around the UK to demonstrate the difference they have made.