Gold for Translink & Patient and Client Council at Commissioner’s Awards

Commissioner for Children and Young People, Patricia Lewsley-Mooney, announced the winners of her Participation Awards at the Stormont Hotel.

The gold winners Translink, received their award for their yLink project in the ‘Putting Young People to the Forefront’ category, while the Patient and Client Council were presented with gold for their Young People’s Priorities project in the ‘Creating Space for Young People in Decision-Making’ category.

“These awards are for government departments and public bodies who demonstrate they have involved children and young people in planning services and in the decisions that affect their lives,” Mrs Lewsley - Mooney said.

“Members of my Awards Panel of young people have been central to the success of these awards, and from the beginning have shaped them and helped define what they represent”

The Silver awards went to Millquarter Primary School and Southern Health and Social Care Trust.

Highly Commended awards were presented to Carrickfergus Children and Young People Strategic Partnership, Police Service NI (Strand Road), Northern Regional College and Sport NI.

“While it was very difficult to choose the winners from the many excellent entries, these eight organisations stood out for my Awards Panel and I. They demonstrated an outstanding commitment to involving children and young people, listening to them, and more importantly acting on their input.”

The Commissioner praised the work of her Awards Panel of young people from across Northern Ireland who, over the past eight months, restructured the awards process based on their experiences last year and judged all entries to the awards.

Stephen Beattie, A NICCY Awards Panel member said “I congratulate all the winners of Participation Awards this evening for their ongoing work in involving children and young people in what they do.”

“These organisations base their services on actual needs rather than presumed needs and create a more effective service adapted for children and young people.

“To fulfill their promise, under article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, all public bodies in Northern Ireland must always allow children and young people the opportunity to have a say in decisions that affect their lives”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

•        The list of winners as follows:

          Gold (Category 1) –  Translink, yLink Project

          Gold (Category 2) – Patient and Client Council, Young People’s Priorities in Health

          and Social Care

          Silver (Category 1) – Millquarter Primary School, School Council

          Silver (Category 2) – Southern Health and Social Care Trust, 16 Plus Leaving and

          After Care Website for the HSCNI

          Highly Commended (Category 1) – Carrickfergus Children and Young People’s    

          Strategic Partnership, Chill and Spill

          Highly Commended (Category 1) – Police Service of Northern Ireland (Strand Road), 

          Street Talk

          Highly Commended (Category 2) – Northern Regional College, Living and

          Learning Together

          Highly Commended (Category 2) - Sport NI, Activ8 Programme and Web

          Resource

For more information about each project click here: www.niccy.org/ParticipationAwards/Finalistsinfo

•        Information about the categories –

This year applications were invited under two categories:

Category 1 ‘Putting young people at the forefront’ - This category was for projects which were set up by organisations who specifically aim to include children and young people in decisions directly affecting them.

Category 2 ‘Creating space for young people in decision making’ - was designed for projects working directly with young people but in this category young people were involved in wider decision making.

•        For more information please contact: Patrice Morris, Communications and Engagement Officer, NICCY on 028 9031 1616 or Email [email protected].