St John Cymru National Youth Awards 2019

Competitions and awards are a proud tradition at St John Cymru and our National Youth Awards are no exception. The awards, which took place on Sunday 3^rd February at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, recognised the achievements and life skills gained by young people from across Wales, who make a real difference within their local communities.

Each year over 2,000 of our young volunteers, aged 5-25 compete against each other at county and national level to become Badger of the year, Cadet of the year, Badger and Cadet Leader of the year as well as Young Adult of the year amongst others.

Winners will go on to become Youth Ambassadors and the voice for our future lifesavers attending prestigious events across Wales and representing the current experiences and issues facing our children and young people today.

Applicants for the awards are carefully assessed on a wide range of criteria including personal skills, such as leadership and team work to interpersonal skills within the community and with peers - where attributes such as kindness, empathy and compassion are evaluated.

First aid competitions which take place in the lead up to the event offered St John Cymru Badgers and Cadets the opportunity to practice their first aid skills in simulated real-life emergency scenarios, illustrating how they would react in a potentially life-threatening situation.

Not only this, interviews, presentations and group challenges also form part of the judging criteria which helps the panel choose winners based on overall scores.

Hosted by St John Cymru Cadet Joshua Mainwaring and LINKS member Georgia Mills, awards were presented by The Prior for Wales, Sir Paul Williams, The Chancellor of the Priory for Wales, Gareth Chapman, Bailiff of St David’s Gwyneth Reese, Youth Development Officer for St John Ambulance Mark Adhen, Welsh Ambulance Service Chief Executive, Jason Killens and a representative from AuronStar Production.

Guests also enjoyed a performance of the Welsh song Calon Lân performed by 2018 National Cadet of the Year, Amelia Davies and a rendition of Siyahamba, a South African hymn meaning “We Are Marching”, was performed by Griffithstown Badgers and Cadets.

"We’re delighted to announce this year’s winners and we look forward to seeing how they grow and develop as part of their new role within the organisation.

This year was one of the toughest years to judge as the calibre of candidates was so high.

Our youth programme helps children from the age of five to make friends, gain confidence and lead fulfilling lives. Many of our Badgers, Cadets and young adults will go on to ork in public services and the health and social care sector, positively contributing to local communities across Wales.

The impact our Volunteer Youth Leaders make to young lives is often difficult to quantify. We can’t thank them enough for giving their free time to help nurture our future generations.”
Sy Joshua, Director of Youth

A huge congratulations to all of those who took part.

We’re delighted to share with you our 2019 award winners!

Badger of the Year:
Amy Jones