Dear Sir

The Aycliffe Youth Council has always strived to make Newton Aycliffe a better town for young people to live in. For several years, we have initiated, organised and assisted with many projects, in order to enrich the lives of young people. This includes helping out at yearly STEM events with the schools, volunteering at the Fun in the Parks, helping out at local community events, improving our connections with the local educational providers and so on.

As of this year, we have decided to provide a young people’s award; the “Aycliffe’s Young Citizen” award. This is an award we hope will benefit and reward an outstanding young person who lives in Aycliffe. The prize is a “One 4 All” card worth £250, a voucher that can be spent in a wide variety of retail places and restaurants. Our plan is for this to be presented to the individual at the Mayor at Home event ran by the council in the summer.

To be eligible for the “Aycliffe’s Young Citizen” award, the young person must be between the age of 11-18, live in Aycliffe and to simply have a reason to receive the award. For example, they may have overcome a personal difficulty/tragedy/adversity, be a young carer, battled illness, volunteered within and enriched their community, perhaps excelled in vocation or academic achievement and so on. There is no particular criteria, only that there is a reason for them to receive this unique award. Anyone can nominate a young person by the deadline of Friday 25th May, and can send nominations by emailing Chrissy Walton (christine.walton@great-aycliffe.gov.uk) or by addressing a letter to herself at the council offices. The Youth Council will then read all nominations and decide who will be the recipient of the prize.

We would like to advertise this in the Newton News in order to let people know about this, and hopefully promote/inspire people to nominate a young person they believe to be suitable for this reward. We have also informed the local secondary schools, however advertising in our local community newspaper will help us to reach a wider audience and perhaps allow us to receive more nominations.

Charlotte Kirton

Chairperson of the Aycliffe Youth Council