A leading young Yorkshire actress and the region’s brightest sporting star were among the winners at the 17th annual Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards, sponsored by McCormicks Solicitors of Harrogate, last night (12 November).
Lucy-Jo Hudson, star of Coronation Street and Wild At Heart, stepped up to receive the Personality of the Year title from Awards Chairman Peter McCormick, while heptathlon World Champion Jessica Ennis was the winner of the Achievement in Sport category.
The Awards, held at the Leeds United Conference and Exhibition Centre at Elland Road, welcomed more than 400 guests, including internationally-renowned chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc, former winners Malandra Burrows and Kelvin Fletcher and actress Kazia Pelka.
The event marks the achievements of people under 35 in a range of categories, from the arts to management and enterprise and, as well as some well-known faces, the winners included previously unknown youngsters who had shone in their own field or community.
Peter McCormick, senior partner of main sponsors McCormicks, said: “Even after 17 years’ experience, the judging just goes on getting tougher and tougher. The nominations are always both inspiring and heart-rending and the stories of the winners are incredible.
“We are immensely grateful for the commitment of both our guests and our sponsors in a year which has been again been financially challenging for many.”
The Awards raise funds for Action for Children for projects in the Yorkshire region and, have raised a total of over £750,000 to date, with last night’s proceeds still to be added.
They mark achievement in the fields of Management and Enterprise, Education, Sport and the Arts. There are also special awards for an Unsung Hero, a Youngster of the Year (under 12), and an Action for Children Achiever.
Paul Moore, Strategic Director at Action for Children, said: “On behalf of Action for Children I would like to thank McCormicks Solicitors for their ongoing support over the years. The Yorkshire Young Achievers Awards are a fantastic way to recognise the contributions and achievements of young people, and the funds raised by the event help Action for Children to continue supporting some of the most vulnerable and neglected children and young people across the region.”
The full line-up of winners was:
Personality of the Year, sponsored by McCormicks Solicitors
Lucy-Jo Hudson.
Lucy-Jo, 26, has just completed a fourth season of ITV’s hit series Wild At Heart, in which she played Rosie Trevanion, screen daughter of Stephen Tompkinson. From there she went on to film Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric”, nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, about a football fanatic postman who receives some life coaching from Eric Cantona.
Lucy-Jo, who was born in Wakefield and brought up in Rothwell, came to fame at Katy Harris in Coronation Street where her character’s dramatic storylines included the murder of her father. She has also worked as a presenter on the popular daytime chat show, Loose Women, and married Coronation Street co-star Alan Halsall, who plays Tyrone Dobbs, earlier this year.
Despite living near Manchester now, she says she will always be a Yorkshire girl and she has great memories of growing up in Rothwell with a close extended family and with her brother, Ryan, and sister, Amy-Lou. Her first taste of show business was when she and her sister were cheerleaders for Ryan when he played for Oulton Rugby Team. He now plays for Castleford Tigers.
Youngster of the Year, sponsored by DFS
Emma Cartlidge
Emma Cartlidge of Maltby, Rotherham. Eleven-year-old Emma is making a strong recovery after suffering from a brain tumour and has raised thousands of pounds for Sheffield Children’s Hospital where she was treated.
Emma was nine when she was rushed to hospital after collapsing at school. She spent 12 hours in theatre and had a lengthy stay in hospital, with the removal of the tumour affecting the control and co-ordination of her eyes, both hands and both legs.
But Emma was determined to get back to her three favourite pastimes – dancing, diving and swimming – and went along to watch them even when she was too ill to take part. Emma, who lives with her mum Janet and 17-year-old brother Nikki, soon started to try to dance while sitting on her chair and then progressed to a swivel stool before managing to be back on her feet in time for a show at Rotherham Civic Theatre just six months after surgery.
The lifeguards at Maltby pool helped Emma back into the water in their free time and she was soon desperate to begin diving again. It took a while to get permission from her consultant but she is now back to diving from the five metre board.
She has taken a starring role in Sheffield Children’s Hospital’s fund-raising DVD and her mum Janet said: “In those dark days after the initial surgery, never in a million years did I expect she would be back to the person she is today.”
Action for Children Young Achiever, sponsored by Leslie Silver OBE
Jodie Knowles
Jodie Knowles of Barnsley. Jodie, who will be 20 the day after the awards (13 November), has overcome a tough childhood to follow her dreams. Born in Barnsley, Jodie and her brother and sister were taken into care in 1999 and lived together for three years before they were separated. Jodie experienced five moves during her time in care, living as far afield as Leicester and Hastings, but kept up with her education throughout, leaving school with eight GCSEs and studying travel and tourism at college. She won the Student of the Year Award during both of her years at college but, despite her success, when she left she decided that she wanted to go into the care industry.
She now cares for vulnerable adults from 18 to 65 and has passed her NVQ Level 2 in Care. She is taking an IT course and studying Makaton, a symbol and sign-based language system to improve her communication with residents without speech. Jodie now has her own home which she shares with her partner John.
Unsung Hero, sponsored by Link Telecom
Lottie Taylor.
Lottie Taylor. Lottie, 21, played a major role in setting up and running after-school care services for youngsters in Leeds while she was studying at Leeds Metropolitan University. Lottie, born and brought up in Huddersfield where her mum, Gill Robinson, is a head teacher, was studying for a degree in Primary Education when she became involved with CALM, the university’s volunteering organisation.
A volunteering trip to Tanzania made her even more determined to put something back into her own community and on her return she worked with CALM to identify needs in Leeds. This led to her setting up of the Kids @ Heart after-school clubs project which runs in St Chad’s Primary at West Park and Brudenell Primary in Hyde Park. She recruited and trained 35 volunteers, organising them into a weekly rota to provide clubs at the schools on four days a week. Lottie has now taken up her first teaching post and has moved to Reading but the clubs she set up continue and Lottie can’t wait to be back in Yorkshire to watch their progress.
Achievement in Education, sponsored by Martin Penny
Alexander Albiston & Elenor Longden.
Alexander Albiston, 18, was a healthy teenager who played football for the Sheffield Wednesday FC Academy for seven years and was captain of his school’s first eleven at cricket. Everything changed in July 2008 when, just after achieving five grade As in his AS examinations, his world was turned upside down with a diagnosis of high grade osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in his leg. He underwent intensive chemotherapy, with 18 separate treatments which ended in April this year, as well as having the tumour removed in an operation at Birmingham Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, spending a total of more than 85 days in hospital. His consultant suggested that he “write off” the academic year but, with the help of his school, Wickersley School and Sports College, Alexander continued his studies, gaining five grade As in his A-levels, despite the fact that he had to take his Maths and Biology exams while in hospital. Alexander gained a place to study Spanish and Russian at St John’s College at Cambridge University but the day before he was due to leave for Cambridge he heard that his cancer was back and he is now undergoing another round of chemotherapy at Weston Park Hospital in Sheffield. Cambridge is keeping his place open for him.
Eleanor Longden, 27, has overcome serious mental health issues to achieve academic success and to make a huge contribution to the understanding of mental illness. Eleanor, who was brought up in Bradford, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when she first went away to university at the age of 18. She was sectioned and given high doses of medication. Eventually returning to university, she was bullied by other students and began to self harm. Eleanor fought back, finding a way to manage the voices in her head, and recently graduated with the highest first-class degree in psychology ever awarded by the University of Leeds. She is studying for an MSc and planning to start a PhD next year. For the last four years Eleanor has worked in an Early Intervention in Psychosis team and in 2006 she helped to establish the Bradford Self-Injury Service which provides media treatment and psychosocial assessment for people who self harm. She works with psychiatrist Dirk Corstens and psychologist Rufus May on a new intervention for people who hear distressing voices and has contributed to several mental health textbooks and spoken at national and international conferences.
Achievement in Management and Enterprise, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers
Sam Moss & Michael Brothwell, Leeds Brewery
Sam Moss and Michael Brothwell. Sam, 25, and Michael, 26, met while studying history at the University of York and founded Leeds Brewery in 2007. They chose Leeds as their base because it had no independent brewer and they felt that it was a vibrant, thriving city which would provide a host of opportunities. They couldn’t believe their luck when the name Leeds Brewery hadn’t been taken. Since their launch they have opened three pubs of their own and supply hundreds of pubs, with their own delivery vans covering an area from Newcastle to Peterborough and a distribution deal for further afield.
Sam says the secret to their success is employing the right people with the right expertise and he is happy to make the tea and drive the vans if that means the team can concentrate on continuing to produce Leeds Best, Leeds Pale, Midnight Bell and a range of seasonal ales. With the planned closure of Tetley’s Brewery in 2011 leaving Leeds Brewery as the only one in the city, they are planning to continue to build on their success.
Achievement in the Arts, sponsored by the Yorkshire Evening Post
Matt Haig.
Matt Haig. Author Matt Haig, 34, was born in Sheffield and now lives in York with his partner Andrea Semple, also an author, and their children, Lucas and Pearl. He won the Blue Peter National Book Award in March this year for Shadow Forest, one of two children’s books he has written. He has also written three novels for adults, including The Last Family in England for which the film rights have been taken up by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company.
He is a graduate of Hull University and completed his MA in Leeds. Jobs along the way included Manumission in Ibiza and London. He has written a series of books on internet marketing, including “Brand Failures: The truth about the 100 biggest branding mistakes of all time”.
Achievement in Sport, sponsored by Leeds United Football Club
Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis. Jessica, 23, took the Hepthalon World Championship in Berlin in August, scoring her lifetime best of 6,731 points.
Born in Sheffield, Jess is a member of the City of Sheffield Athletic Club and trains in Sheffield and Leeds.
Berlin was a particularly important triumph after she missed the Beijing Olympics due to a fractured right ankle and winning Britain’s first hepthalon gold put her firmly on the roll call of British greats.
She is now training hard for the European title in Barcelona next July.
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