The Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire Jennifer, Lady Gretton once again hosted the prestigious, young people awards 2015 held on Thursday 23^rd April at County Hall in Glenfield. This was the 9th year that these awards have been held.

This year's awards attracted a record 130 x young people, aged 13- 19 years, who were identified by members of the public, teachers, youth workers, and various organisations as potential candidates for the awards.

The event saw young people from both Leicester and Leicestershire being rewarded and commended for some of the most remarkable examples of dedication, service to others, outstanding personal achievements and sporting prowess.

Lady Gretton, Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, said: “All-too-often the achievements of young people go un-noticed by the wider community and they are often portrayed in a negative light.

I am pleased that my awards have demonstrated the good work that young people are doing across our city and county. It was humbling to hear of the achievements of the finalists, who were all so deserving of this recognition.’

Dr Mike Ferguson, JHMT, said: ‘It was impressive that young people within Leicestershire can demonstrate such amazing talent, producing fantastic results. Within each award there was only one winner but all the finalists proved their capacity to be outstanding: they should be honoured to be seen as role models for excellence within the city and county.’

The awards are divided into five categories each with three short-listed candidates, with one winner for each section and one overall winner. The runners-up in each category received gift vouchers to the value of £100. Each category winner is awarded a prize up to the value of £500

The winners of the Category Awards were:

There were winners in each of the five categories, as follows:

Young Braveheart – Bethany May Mickleburgh (17) from Leicester
Young Volunteer – Ryanvir Singh (15) from Leicester
Young Most Improved Sports Person – Sophie Pedlar (16) from Melton Mowbray
Young Poet – Holly Cheeseman (13) from Loughborough
Young Artist - The Joe Humphries Memorial Award)– Ella Joyce (18) from Leicester

These five young people were all considered for the overall award of the ‘Lord-Lieutenant's Young Person of the Year’, and that top prize went to Bethany May Mickleburgh, a former Leukaemia sufferer who has worked hard to encourage others to sign up to the Anthony Nolan donor register.

This year's overall all winner, Bethany May Mickleburgh who attends St Paul's Roman Catholic School, said: “I was very surprised and honoured to be named as the winner. I wasn't expecting it as there were many more people who deserved it.

I've really enjoyed the evening, I didn't think I'd be nervous but as the awards went on I could feel the tension building up.”

For further information go to: www.leics.gov.uk/lieutenancy