"We need to shine a light on incredible young people"

Sunday 24 February 2019

A local teacher, who nominated one of her students for the Diana Award, is calling for the names of "incredible young people" to be put forward to help give them the recognition they deserve.

Emma McCartan, Assistant Headteacher at Haute Vallée School, nominated Tom Hughes for the Diana Award in 2017 after he carried out over 500 hours of volunteer work with St. John Ambulance.

Launched in memory of the late Princess of Wales, the Diana Award recognises "courageous, caring, compassionate young people" who "have gone above and beyond in their daily lives to create and sustain positive change in their communities and the world as Princess Diana believed they could".

Pictured: Tom, with Former Teacher, Catherine Laing and HRH The Princess Royal at the Sovereign's Award Reception.

Tom was one of the winners in 2017, the Award having recognised Tom's volunteer service, especially his role in "transforming local medical education by introducing first aid into the curriculum from KS1 to KS5."

Since then he has won a Sovereign's Award, the premier achievement for young people within the Order of St John worldwide and the only award to bear the signature of the Sovereign Head of the Order, as well as a Points of Light Award – a special honour to recognise “outstanding” volunteers that help to make a change in their community - from the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May. 

In addition to his continuing volunteer work with St. John Ambulance and his schoolwork at Highlands College, Tom has been collaborating with the Diana Award to rollout Anti Bullying training in local schools. 

Pictured: Tom receiving his Diana Award in 2017 with singer, Caitlyn Vanbeck and The Diana Award’s CEO, Tessy Ojo.

He has also been trying to get more young islanders recognised for their volunteer work through the Diana Award. With the deadline for the nominations approaching, Tom is once again appealing to islanders to nominate deserving young people.

Nominees must be aged between 9 and 25 and have been carrying out their activities for a minimum of 12 months. Nominators must know the young person in a professional capacity, it can be a teacher, a doctor or a youth group leader, for example. "It's all about recognising the work people do," Tom said.

In addition to the actual award, winners get access to specially tailored workshops as well as network events. Tom himself said he met a large variety of people during the ceremony as well as volunteers from all over the world - an experience he called "eye opening".

Pictured: Tom at Anti-Bullying Week.

Miss McCartan, who nominated Tom for the Award because of "his enormous contributions to the local community and the fact that he gave up so much of his time to give something back to the community", said it is essential to recognise the work young people do.  

"Young people can often have a bad reputation; however, we need to shine a light on Tom and other incredible young people who are changing the world we live in," she said. "I think others should nominate people for awards to shine that light on the positive impact people are making in our community," she added. "Nominating people for awards gives them the recognition they deserve for the selfless acts they carry out over a period of time.”

Tom said that if there are at least 10 nominees across Jersey and Guernsey, a local award ceremony could be held - a number he says shouldn't be hard to reach. "You can be nominated form the age of 9 to 25 so it's a big bracket," Tom said. "Everyone knows someone."

Pictured: Rachel Gallagher, Emma McCartan, Tom Hughes and Catherine Laing.