Winner of inaugural Youth Worker Award announced
Ravi Chandiramani
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A senior youth and community worker based in the New Forest has won the first Youth Worker Award at an event organised by the National Youth Agency in association with Children & Young People Now.
Candy Huxham, who has worked at the Hythe & Dibden Youth Trust for more than 10 years, emerged triumphant from a three-strong shortlist. The awards saw young people invited to tweet in their nominations of youth workers who had provided them with vital support.
The purpose of the award was to find the youth worker who has made the greatest impact on their community.
Huxham collected her award from Baroness Claire Tyler, the chief executive of Relate, at a reception at the House of Commons yesterday, also attended by children’s minister Tim Loughton.
Huxham said: "I live my job. Even when I go out to the chip shop I do my job, I will tell young people to put the rubbish in the bin.
"Wherever I go, I want to make a difference to young people. I have 1,700 people on my Facebook site. They know they can leave me a message at six o’clock in the morning and I’ll get back to them by nine o’clock, whatever it is".
Huxham organises gigs, park activities and competitions for young people of all ages as well as talking about young people’s issues in school.
One of her young nominees, Helen Owers, said in submitting the entry: "There are hundreds of young people Candy has helped. She has got families, schools, police, agency workers and all the older people who work with young people working together so that any child in difficulty is supported by a group of people who work together in the child’s interests."
The other two youth workers to make the shortlist were Qudes Zafar, who founded Stechford Youth Network in the Midlands; and Kim Kyle, area worker at the Avenues Project in Gateshead.
The award is timed to coincide with this year’s Youth Work Week, run by the NYA under the theme of "bringing communities together".
